Panaji: The Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) of Goa police on Friday arrested the suppliers and seized drugs and psychotropic substances worth nearly ₹23,26,000.
Three persons have been arrested, and three separate cases under NDPS Act have been registered against them, Superintendent of Police, Crime Umesh Gaonkar told The Hindu on Friday. All the three have been remanded to police custody till Monday by a local court.
The ANC received information on March 21 that narcotic drugs were being supplied in Anjuna, North Goa, by one Yusuf Bashir Mohammad from Chennai. He was found to be an alleged user and peddler of drugs. The police reportedly seized 75 gms of Methamphetamine and 10 LSD cubes weighing 40 gms from him.
Subsequent interrogation of the accused led to the arrest of David Johnson, a British national residing in Anjuna. The police allegedly found 17 gms of MDMA and 32 Ecstasy tablets weighing 13 gms in his possession.
“He is identified as the alleged main supplier of these drugs,” Mr. Gaonkar said. An offence under section 22(C) and 29 of the NDPS Act, 1985 has been registered against Johnson.
After interrogating the two arrested persons, police came across another link, one Ganesh Dhonguram Pondir from Himachal Pradesh, who was arrested from Arambol beach in North Goa, after police seized 1,350 kgs of Charas (hashish), worth around ₹5.40 lakh, from him. The police have charged Pondir as the main source of supply of charas to drug peddlers. An offence was registered on March 22 against him, under section 20(b)(ii)(C) of NDPS Act.
Following Johnson’s interrogation, police obtained some details, based on which it raided his rental house in Anjuna and allegedly seized 20 gms of MDMA, 40 gms of DMT, and 30gms of LSD liquid, all approximately worth ₹12 lakh. Separate offences against him have been registered under section 22 (C) of NDPS Act.
Mr. Gaonkar said during these raids, a unique method came to light — that of lacing sugar cubes with LSD liquid. This trend had allegedly been adopted by Johnson. The police official said Johnson, who arrived in Goa from U.K. some time back, was allegedly the source of these drugs. He suspected to have brought a consignment of sugar cube laced LSD liquid, ecstasy tablets and MDMA with him from U.K.
