Drugs, sex ring poison Goa beaches-Local Dealers Lure Poor European Girls to Expand Biz

Preetu Nair | TNN
Panaji: As theories of a drug and sex ring contributing to the death of British teen Scarlette Keeling gained ground, the Goa police on Wednesday went back on their first assumption of death due to drowning and promised a fresh probe.
North Goa SP Bosco George said: “We are connecting the missing links to solve the case. We will be basing our final report on the second autopsy report.” Doctors conducted the second autopsy on Tuesday evening.
Keeling’s mother Fiona McKeown had refused to take back the body of the 15-year-old, found dead on the Anjuna beach on February 18, if the government did not conduct a second autopsy. With the case receiving national attention, CM Digambar Kamat promised to personally look into the matter.
Scarlette used to be seen around Anjuna with a duo believed to be linked to the thriving drugs network. Local people say she was introduced to drugs by the local dealers and once she got hooked, they forced her to pay in kind for her daily fix.
Investigations reveal that just like Scarlette, European girls from working class backgrounds are often lured into the world of drugs in coastal Goa. The modus operandi is to befriend minor girls from poor European homes at trance parties and introduce them to drugs. They pretend to be a friend, who provide food, shelter and money, and the drugs. Once hooked, the girls are not only sexually abused but used for “outsourcing” synthetic drugs abroad.
“Drugs like LSD, cocaine, MDMA and ecstasy are expensive and these girls don’t have money to pay. Once they are addicted, they are willing to do anything,” informed a rave party organizer in Anjuna. At present, one gram of MDMA has a street value here at Rs 2,500, cocaine costs nearly Rs 4,500, ecstasy tablets cost Rs 800 and LSD sells for Rs 400.
Drug abuse is so high that tourists have often been hospitalized due to overdose or consumption of adulterated drugs. Some lose their lives, like Japanese Urano Asaki and Keigo Yashiki, who died of drug abuse last Monday. “In the last tourist season, we treated 37 foreigners who collapsed due to overdose or contaminated drugs. This year the figure has already touched 53,” said Dr Jawaharlal Henriques, who runs a drug rehabilitation centre in Anjuna.

However, Home Minister Ravi Naik stated that there is hardly any drug abuse in Goa and everything is under control. “We have a special Anti Narcotic Cell which looks into this issue and everything is under control. I don’t even know from where Scarlette used to get the drugs,” added Naik.

March 6, 2008 , The Times of India , Times Nation, Page 15