Need to crack down on tout syndicate harassing tourists: Goa Tourism Minister

Claiming that an organised mafia of touts was duping and physically assaulting tourists in Goa, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte on Tuesday said that even nurses working in government hospitals were 'pitched' to unwitting tourists for sexual favours.

Khaunte's comments came days after 11 tourists from Chandgad in South Maharashtra were beaten up by a gang of touts, after they lured them to a room with the promise of a cheap meal and massages and then beaten up. Six persons, including three women have been arrested in connection with the offence by officials of the Mapusa police station so far.

"This syndicate of touts needs to be cracked down on. What has happened is a horrid thing for Goa and Goa Tourism... The syndicate functions like this. The touts first meet young tourists. They show them the world, that everything is available here. They take them to a spot, tie them up and beat them. They are robbed.Using technology, they actually strip them of what they have. This syndicate needs to be busted," the Tourism Minister said.

On Tuesday, he visited the Mapusa police station, from where he sought an update on the investigation, as well as said that he had requested the Director General of Police to crack down on tout operations on Goa's beaches.

"Massage spas operating illegally on the beach belt and elsewhere are nothing, but a tout syndicate which was operating as a gang in Goa and this needs to be busted with a strong fist. I have told DGP to pick up such touts from the beach. Tourists being assaulted in cities is not acceptable," the Tourism Minister said, adding that he would speak to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to "finish this syndicate".

Khaunte also cited an instance

"There was a similar gang operating in Bambolim. Touts used to fraudulently lure tourists, telling them about nurses (being available) and then take them to a designated place and attack and rob them," Khaunte said. Bambolim is home to the state's top government medical facility, the Goa Medical College.