PANAJI
The Goa Police on Monday said it is working on a mechanism to identify and track criminal elements entering the State under the guise of tourists, following the arrest of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s associate Danish Merchant, from a resort by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Mumbai.
The force admitted they had no prior information on Merchant’s presence in Goa, indicating the challenges of individuals blending into Goa’s tourist population to evade law enforcement.
“We are working on how to track the criminal elements. Some people come down as tourists,” Director General of Police Alok Kumar said.
Merchant, also known as Danish Chikna, was picked up from a luxury resort on October 25 while the NCB tracked him down during an investigation into drug operations. As per the NCB, he is a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim and allegedly handled operations of a drug syndicate linked to the fugitive gangster.
Merchant, a habitual offender, already faces three NDPS cases registered by the NCB and the Rajasthan police, while the Mumbai police have booked him in seven criminal cases and externed him from the city.
DGP Kumar also flagged two recent incidents as reflective of broader challenges ahead of peak tourist season.
The first incident involved the assault on a group of tourists by bouncers at the Romeo Lane club. Kumar said that while bouncers are required as part of crowd management, they cannot take the law into their own hands. “If a situation escalates beyond control, the police must be called in. If intervention is required, staff must know how to handle it. Beyond a point, police must be involved,” he said, adding that legal action has already been taken in the case.
The DGP has also directed SP North Rahul Gupta to engage with shack owners, club and hotel operators to ensure clarity on handling unruly patrons without taking the law into their own hands.
The second incident pertained to a visitor who allegedly rented a car and committed theft while leaving. The DGP stated that the case highlighted weaknesses in identity verification by rental services and hospitality establishments.
“If someone provides false identity, it signals wrong intentions. Honest people do not give fake identities. With high tourist inflow, this is a critical concern,” he said. The police, he added, will work with the transport department and tourism-linked businesses to improve checks and tracking mechanisms.
He also noted that taxi owners have raised complaints of theft by customers, saying coordination would be intensified to ensure suspects can be traced swiftly. “The police are capable of tracking offenders. If they can do it in Sindhudurg, why not here?” he said.
The police are now looking to formalise information-sharing between law enforcement, hotels, nightlife establishments, and vehicle rentals to prevent Goa from being used as a refuge for fugitives or criminal networks operating across States.
