Telangana cops arresting Goa-based drug dealers putting state to shame: Former Goa CM

The arrest of alleged drug dealers from Goa by Telangana police has ruined the coastal state’s reputation as a safe tourism destination, former chief minister, and South Goa Congress MP, Francisco Sardinha said on Friday.

Sardinha also lamented the breakdown in law and order in the state, in the wake of the surge in murder and rape cases being reported.

Sardinha, speaking to reporters, said: “Telangana Police comes here to nab drug peddlers. Are our police deaf and blind?”

Sardinha also accused the state police of being more interested in stopping wedding parties, and not keen on busting drug-laced music parties that “blared music till early morning hours”.

“Parties are going on, music is loud. When weddings take place, the police come to interrupt them, drug parties should be stopped not weddings. The name of Goa is spoiled because police are hand in glove with them (drug dealers),” he said.

The former chief minister’s comment comes following the arrest of Steve D’Souza, owner of the popular night club Hill Top in the beach village of Anjuna, on drug charges.

D’Souza was arrested from Anjuna in north Goa earlier this week by the Hyderabad city police allegedly in connection with a drug bust in Hyderabad.

Last month, a drugs-related raid in Telangana’s capital had led to the arrest of a drug dealer of Goan origin named Pritish Borkar. Reportedly, Borkar also hails from Anjuna—notorious as a drug destination and all-night rave parties.

Following Borkar’s arrest, Hyderabad Commissioner of Police C V Anand accused Goa police of not co-operating with its investigation, involving an inter-state narcotics gang operating between Telangana and Goa.

However, Goa’s Director General of Police Jaspal Singh dismissed the accusations, claiming the state police received no formal request for assistance by its Hyderabad counterparts.