PANAJI: Pernem police on Monday arrested three persons for their alleged involvement in illegal cultivation of cannabis, and seized drugs worth over Rs1 crore. Pernem PI Jivba Dalvi said that all the accused are from the same family and are involved in the carpentry business.
Dalvi said that after receiving information of illegal drug activities being carried out from a residence at Keri in Pernem, the police had mounted a surveillance and raided the premises at Thorlebad. During the search police found a cannabis plantation in the backyard of the house. This is the second major raid by Pernem police within ten days.
In the past few months Goa has seen many cases of people growing cannabis from residential premises.
Dalvi said the raiding team seized 2.3kgs of cannabis worth Rs5 lakh, along with 1.3kgs of ganja worth Rs1.3 lakh and 2.5kgs of charas worth over Rs1 crore. He said the police have registered the offence under section 20(a)(i), 20(b)(ii)(B), 20(b)(ii)(C) and three residents, Rama Kerkar, 22, Rashmi Kerkar, 44 and Shivaji Kerkar, 34 have been arrested. “All the accused have been remanded to four-day police custody.
On October 14, in two separate raids, Pernem police arrested a Russian national for illegal possession of drugs at Mandrem, while a cannabis plantation was also raided at Arambol. After receiving a tip-off police had raided a premises at Sawantwada in Mandrem and recovered charas and ganja from 37-year-old Oleg Nazarov. The charas was valued around Rs25,000, while the ganja was valued at around Rs1.6 lakh.
Later in the evening in another raid at Madhlawada in Arambol, cannabis that was being cultivated and valued at around Rs 1.7 lakh was also seized by the police.