South Goa Superintendent of Police Abhishek Dhania claims that the majority of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 cases in South Goa are of cannabis that is ganja. There is not much trade of costly chemical drugs in South Goa, says SP Dhania.
As one of the best tourist destinations for overseas and Indian tourists, Goa is more prone to drug-related cases. The year-end festivities and tourism season in Goa further give velocity to this drug trade.
As compared to North Goa, South Goa's coastal areas have remained untapped by the majority of tourists lately. But in recent times, numerous NDPS cases have been booked by the South Goa police and narcotic substances costing lakhs of rupees have been seized by the Goa police.
South Goa has seen NDPS cases of ganja supply. SP South informed that the main reason behind ganja being popular among drug addicts is because it is quite cheap as compared to other chemical party drugs which come at an exorbitant cost.
“The drug trade functions on the demand and supply principle. Our focus is to reach the main source and curb drug supply,” he added.
South Goa Superintendent of Police Abhishek Dhania informed Gomantak Times that last year the South Goa police registered 19 cases under the NDPS Act. This year police registered 23 NDPS cases, and all cases have been worked out and standing trial so far.
Further, SP Dhania revealed that in all these 23 NDPS cases which were booked this year, the product which has been seized in large quantities is cannabis, which is popularly known as ganja.
All these 23 cases of NDPS have been registered in South Goa police stations, ranging from Canacona to Vasco, Margao, Fatorda and Ponda, which is in all directions.
Giving more input about the places where the ganja is brought from to Goa, SP Dhania said, in all these cases, the South Goa police have found that the ganja has been brought from outside Goa, especially from Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and some parts of the North Eastern states of India.
Later when questioned about the measures taken up by the South Goa police to curtail the trade of cannabis and its supply, SP Dhania informed us, “All NDPS cases which the police take up are based purely on intelligence (intel).
The cannabis trade is not like a street crime, these drug-related crimes are highly organised. There are some people involved in this drug trade who are stationed out of Goa, which means the source of the problem is somewhere else and Goa state becomes a retail hub. Goa is not a wholesale hub, because it is a tourist and party place.”
SP further said, “We have a high focus on drug peddlers who have been arrested so far. Police take inputs from them. Drug addicts who have been sent to the rehabilitation centre at Anjuna, we try to get intel from them too.
Our beat and intelligence staff also visit certain areas prone to the drug trade and get information. Based on all this intel, we work out the NDPS cases.”
When asked whether South Goa has a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts, SP Dhania revealed that there is one rehab centre in Anjuna, that is, in North Goa, and so far South Goa does not have a drug addict rehab centre.
"During the recent meeting with the South Goa collector, I have put up a proposal to set up one rehab centre for drug addicts especially in South Goa," he added.
