PANAJI
The Telangana police have decided to tighten the noose around ‘drug gangsters’ operating from their “safe haven” in Goa as their investigation zeroed-in on a new modus operandi used by the kingpins to evade the law.
Besides Anjuna local Preetesh Borkar, the Hyderabad police also took custody of two inter-state peddlers Narendra Arya and Farhan Mohammad Ansari “ hailing from Haryana and Madhya Pradesh respectively, for clandestinely operating the illegal trade from Goa for over a year.
Their confession and police investigation led to more names, who are actively running the racket from the holiday State. Hyderabad City Commissioner of Police C V Anand has confirmed that drug gangsters are operating from Goa.
“We have some more names of drug gangsters operating from their haven in Goa. We will seek their (Goa Police) help to apprehend them (drug peddlers) in true spirit and without leakage (of
information about the raid/ arrest to the drug peddlers),” he said while speaking to The Goan reporter over the phone on Saturday.
The drug bust in Telangana last month also exposed the use of dark web through the ‘WickrMe’ application. An officer explained that once an order is placed and payment is made in crypto currency, the product ordered is sent to the customer through courier services.
Arya and Ansari reportedly sold a cocktail of traditional and party drugs across the country from the base in Goa. “Arya earned Rs 30 lakh and Ansari made Rs 15 lakh from their sales last year,” the source said.
Borkar, as reported by The Goan on Friday, is a part of a much larger interstate drug cartel with 600-odd consumers pan-India. The Hyderabad police will further seek Curlies beach shack restaurant owner Edwin Nunes’ custody as his name too figures in the list of alleged drug traffickers.
In an indirect reply to Goa Police’s statement accusing the Hyderabad police of failing to contact senior officers pertaining to the investigation, Commissioner Anand said that police forces across the country work in tandem with each other “and go out of their way in apprehending accused in all types of cases.”
“One must realise that narcotics will finally overwhelm the entire society where they are allowed to be consumed and peddled and we have examples of them in our country,” the officer said.
Hyderabad police had earlier charged that Goa Police did not cooperate in the investigation evoking sharp reaction from political leaders in the State. Director General of Police Jaspal Singh claimed that his counterparts did not approach either him, IGP or SP.
