Russian Oly medallist held in Goa drug bust

A Russian Olympic silver medallist and a former Russian cop are among three individuals arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) which busted an international drug cartel operating at Arambol in the North Goa beach belt and adjoining areas, on Saturday.
Svetlana Varganova is a former swimmer from Russia who bagged the silver medal at the 1980 Olympics. She was held after the NCB found that she was peddling drugs to foreigners. On April 13, Varganova was intercepted at Arambol and 2.5gm of charas, 2gm of methamphetamine and 0.3gm of ecstasy were seized from her, NCB Mumbai’s zonal director Amit Ghawate said.
Varganova’s compatriot, Andre, is a former cop-turned-cartel kingpin, who has been residing in Goa for a long time, Ghawate said. He is believed to have visited many cities to spread his drug network and was directly involved in managing a whole web of street peddlers.
Further investigation led the NCB to a local person called Akash. It was learnt that Akash was part of a larger network and was working on the directions of a Russian person considered to be a prime character in the cartel.
“Discreet surveillance was mounted upon Akash immediately. He was apprehended at Arambol on Friday and nine LSD blots, 30g of hashish, one MDMA tablet and Rs 28,000 as proceeds of sales were seized,” Ghawate said.
Surveillance was also mounted in and around Mandrem on the same day, which led to Andre’s arrest on Saturday and the seizure of 20 LSD blots from his possession. Andre was also found to be growing hydroponic weed at this residence, three pots of which were seized.
“The total drug seizure comprises 88 blots of LSD, 8.8g of cocaine, 242.5g of charas, 1.4kg of hydroponic weed, 16.5g of hash oil, 410g of hash cake, 2g of methamphetamine, and one tablet and 0.3g of MDMA. Apart from this, cash of $1,829 and 1,720 Thai baht was also seized,” Ghawate said.