‘Focus will be on security, drug crackdown’
Panaji: As a large crowd is expected in the state to usher in the New Year, Goa police will be on their toes in the week ahead, with cops saying that their focus will be on maintaining safety and security in the state and acting severely against the drug trade.
Claiming to have devised a well-planned strategy to disrupt the drug networks by targeting the supply chain as well as the demand, police said it has resulted earlier in a record seizure of drugs.
The surge of visitors during the year-end is believed to bring a peak in the demand and supply of narcotics, leading to a significant police crackdown.
Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) Superintendent of Police (SP) Sunita Sawant said police teams, along with sniffer dogs, have been conducting surprise checks at the interstate bus stations and railway stations in the state and also in the coastal belt. Trains and interstate buses are believed to be one of the main routes for peddlers to smuggle narcotics into the state.
Sawant also said they are using handheld analysers to check for consumption of drugs. “It is one of the important devices and a spot test can determine drug usage,” she said. Last year, police had seized drugs worth Rs 9.81 crore, while narcotics worth over Rs 73 crore were seized in the first six months of this year.
A number of drugs peddlers are on the radar of police, said the ANC SP. Even as the police is conducting drug raids and arresting the accused, focus is also on conducting awareness among youth on drug abuse, said Sawant. “The only idea behind this is ‘to eradicate narcotics’ from the state and the efforts are yielding results with several drug seizures and arrests,” she said.
“We have been organising a series of awareness activities, which includes lectures, painting competitions, marathon etc,” Sawant said.
The top police officer said that as a part of the crackdown on drug menace in the state, police are monitoring the activities of drug peddlers and dealers. According to information from sources in police, peddlers earlier arrested by police, especially those involved in large drug seizure cases, are on the priority list of the cops.
