Goa Police to Send Seized Drugs to Hyd for Forensic Test

Goa Police will send the stock of drugs seized in the past one decade for forensic test to Hyderabad within the next couple of days, police sources said today.

The drugs would be sent via road under tight security, a crime branch officer said.

State police have began an exhaustive exercise to probe the pilferage of drugs from its official locker after an Israeli drug dealer Atala alias Yaniv Benaim, claimed that he used to get narcotics from the police safe-house.

A senior police officer said that all the packets would be forensically examined to check whether the drugs were later adulterated with other material, after pilfering them.

In their submission to the court, police had said that around 24 kg charas was missing from its lockers. They also claimed that white ants had feasted on the drugs.

Officials said the drugs stored in the lockers were not disposed off since the last decade, although a designated drug destruction committee was formed.

A senior crime branch officer said that during the investigation they have found that seals of some packets were broken.

“We need to check whether they are open accidentally or purposely. Once drugs are confiscated, it is sealed and resealed during the prosecution,” he said.

Learning lessons from the revelations after police-drug peddler nexus was exposed, the anti-narcotic cell (ANC) has now recommended that the drugs seized during the raids be disposed off immediately after the case was finalised.

Incidentally, ANC, which was formed to curb the drug trade, was not given representation on the destruction committee.

ANC Superintendent of Police, Veenu Bansal has asked his seniors to give proper representation to ANC on this committee.