panaji, nov 22: the narcotics business is likely to undergo a drastic change once again with the latest amendment in the ndps act. according to the amendment in the narcotic drugs and psycotropic substances act, small quantity of charas is stated to be 100 grams whereas the commercial quantity is said to be 1 kg. the punishment for carrying a small quantity is upto 6 months ri. police officials feel that this could lead the dealers to take more risks, and they can carry larger amounts of charas. "any crime is a cost benefit analysis, and 6 months is not a long time at all, feels superintendent of police, anti narcotics cell, mr devesh srivastava. it takes rs 1,000 to process these drugs and they are sold later for 20 times the original price — obviously, if the dealer has to spend 6 months in jail in return for a one time income of rs 25,000, he may not mind, he added. the peddling and the consumption of narcotic substances has become one of the consequences of the tourism boom in the state in the past two decades. the drug trade is flourishing to such an extent that goa has already earned a notorious reputation of being a major drug destination, where drugs like charas and ganja are freely peddled and consumed. one of the main reasons for the ever-increasing menace here, is that in the mid 80's the state was visited by lot of backpackers and hippies who are the main consumers of low end drugs, says mr srivastava. "i think another reason could also be that goans per se were not affected by the drug peddling as goan youth did not indulge in drugs — they only peddled them. if the local youth had started consuming drugs, then there would have been a huge hue and cry, and hence would have invited harsh action" he feels. in the past one year, though, the business of narcotics has undergone a tranformation. peddlers, who earlier used to come from manali in himachal pradesh, which is the main center for the supply of drugs, to goa by train now prefer different routes and engage in stopovers at different places. "earlier, we use to station our men at the railway station since we knew what train the dealers may be travelling in, but now due to different modes of transport, it becomes difficult," police officials admit. in the year 2000, the anc booked a total number of 42 cases and an equal number of people were arrested. of these 11 resulted in conviction and only one was acquitted. in comparison, the total number of cases booked this year upto september 30, is 19, with 21 people being arrested and two of the cases already resulting in conviction. the total value of the drugs seized last year was rs 68,73,750 lakh while this year, the tally has gone up to rs 20, 95,500 lakh. last year a total of 3 indians and 9 foreigners were arrested while this year, 11 indians and 10 foreigners have been arrested so far, reveals dysp, anc, mr fintan d'souza. "most of the foreigners are nepalis, who cross the border and come over to india. while goans do get involved in peddling drugs, some of the peddlers are also from manali. they meet the tourists in manali itself, and make arrangements to come down to goa when the tourists are there. the tourists tell them where they can be contacted in goa," he adds. the common modus operandi for these peddlers is to loiter around major tourist spots, especially the beaches, where the backpacker tourist is likely to approach them. " a druggie always recognises another druggie, so you can be sure that these tourists know where to find a peddler," says a senior police official. and while local hotel owners do not directly indulge in the drug business, they do nothing to avoid it either, since their business also gets a boost. the tourist is bound to come back to the same area again if he knows that he can procure drugs there. also discotheques and night clubs gain a lot of customers because the tourists come there knowing that it is a potential place to get what they want. while the major players, in the trade do not change, peddlers keep changing. "those who are convicted never return. they either go to karwar or other neighbouring areas, and this makes it very difficult for us to keep track of those that replace them. we have to keep track of the old players and we can track the new entrants, who may be their associates," anc officials state. however, the rate of convictions in ndps cases in the state is very high, as compared to the rest of the country and one of the reasons for this is that the police force here follows the law to the book. "the ndps act is a very procedural law, and it has to be followed to the book if we have to get a conviction. from the very time we plan a raid, we learn to pad up our case so that we are not found wanting by the court. we learn to twist the truth many a time because the law is such that unless the procedures are followed, we cannot make a case, and at times there is not enough time to follow all the rules," top officials in the anc reveal. "we know the big fish go scot free, but that is probably because the courts are very cautious when it comes to handing out sentences. a sentence under the ndps act can go upto 10 years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of one lakh and obviously its a huge responsibility to hand out such a harsh sentence," sources say. another reason for the major players not being caught is that personal possession of the drug has to be shown and most drug dealers don't move around with charas and ganja on their person,'' officials stated. the trail to the big players invariably leads to the big drug cartels which are managed by dons like dawood ibrahim and chotta shakeel. well done, cops conviction is rate 94 pc goa has been in the limelight as far as conviction rates for ndps cases go. the conviction rates in the year 1998 and 1999 have been 94 per cent while in the year 2000, of the 12 cases which have been decided by the courts so far, only one has resulted in acquittal. the rates in the rest of the country hover around the 20-22 per cent mark. the unanimous opinion is that this high rate of conviction is due to the preparedness of the police, who follow every rule in the book during a raid. "any case fails if the investigation is not sound, but if the police follow all the rules, then there is no reason for the case not to succeed," opines the attorney general of the state, mr a n s nadkarni. mr srivastava reveals that the police have a detailed list of the things to be done prior to a raid, and a copy of that is given to every investigating officer. mr d'souza feels that the anc has managed to prove personal possession of the drug and that has been the deciding factor in deciding the large number of convictions.
