the goan I network
PANAJI
For long acknowledged as the dark under-belly of Goa's tourism industry, trade and movement of narcotic and other synthetic drugs seem to be showing no sign of ebbing, indicative from the progressively increasing number of cases booked by the police over the last three years.
Official figures shared in the Goa legislative assembly by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant revealed a whopping 32 per-cent increase in the number of cases and raids reported in 2018 and 2019 as compared to those booked in 2017.
Sawant, who also holds the Home portfolio, said the police, including police stations across Goa and the Anti-Narcotic Cell (ANC) reported 168 drug cases in 2017. A year later, the number of cases jumped by over 32 percent to 222 in 2018 and marginally dropped by three cases to 219 in 2019.
What is of concern in the detailed statistics provided by Sawant in the House though is the poor results and tardy progress of investigations and prosecution of these cases.
In 2017, for instance, of the 168 cases booked, the State has managed to achieve success and earn a conviction of the accused from the first trial at the NDPS Court in just 15 instances, an abysmal 8.9 per-cent.
In comparison, the number of cases where the investigation and prosecution failed to establish guilt and cases were either closed as 'A Final' before chargesheet, the accused were discharged before trial or the ended in acquittal of the alleged culprits added up to over 9 per-cent.
Trials in almost 80 per-cent of the cases in 2017 are still pending in the NDPS court and in nearly half-a-dozen of them the investigations are yet to be completed.
Also, most of the cases
where the prosecution ended in convictions, the substance involved was the less potent charas or hashish. The more potent variants such as cocaine and synthetic party and designer drugs like LSD, MDMA and mephedrone (meow meow) apparently are slipping through police nets.
Meanwhile, the three cases of youth dying during the recent electronic dance music (EDM) festival held in the northern Goa tourism hub of Vagator, is yet to be established as cases of drug overdose.
Sawant told the legislative assembly in response to questions posed by Opposition Leader Digambar Kamat and former chief minister Ravi Naik, that the results of the examination of the three youth's viscera sent for to the forensic science laboratory at Hyderabad has as yet not been received.
Interestingly, not a single case of death due to drug overdose has been confirmed since 2015, Sawant said, adding that in fewer than half-a-dozen cases in those five years were sent for detailed forensic tests to Hyderabad.
