Drugs are not freely available in Goa: IGP

Amid the mysterious death of three youngsters at an EDM festival in Goa last week, Inspector General of Police Jaspal Singh on Tuesday said, that drugs are not freely available in Goa, as is being alleged by the Opposition.

Speaking to reporters in Panaji, Singh said, that the Goa Police followed a zero tolerance policy vis a vis drugs.

Commenting on the investigation into the death of three youngsters two tourists from Andhra Pradesh died on Friday (Dec 27) and one from Bengaluru died on Sunday (Dec 29) at the Sunburn Klassique EDM festival, Singh said that it was not possible to form a preliminary opinion on the deaths.

"The post-mortem has been conducted and it is not possible to give a preliminary comment. Only after we get the viscera report, we can reach a conclusion, as to why the deaths occurred," Singh said.

Responding to criticism from the Opposition, which has claimed that drugs were easily available in the coastal state, Singh said: "It will not be right to blame (police). Whenever we get information, we act on it and we make an arrest. To say that it is freely available, is not right".

"In 2019, we have acted against a lot of peddlers. Rs 3 crore worth of drugs was seized in Calangute recently from a foreign national. It is clear that our policy towards drugs is zero tolerance. On Monday, a Portuguese national was also arrested from whom we seized drugs worth Rs 24 lakh. This is testimony to our zero tolerance policy," Singh said.

The senior police official's comments come at a time when the police are facing flak over the death of the three tourists at the EDM festival. The Opposition has also demanded the resignation of Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar over the death of the three tourists at a music festival actively backed by the Tourism Ministry.

( With inputs from IANS )