This Article is From Jan 02, 2010

No drugs in Goa, claims government

Panjim: The Goa government has made a shocking claim that no narcotic substance is sold in the state.

While attending the Sun Burn music festival, Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik exclusively told NDTV on Saturday that the sale of drugs in the state is a media creation.

"It's only because of the media, otherwise there are no drugs. Just go out and see, there are no drugs. This is created by the media and the papers. Goa is so peaceful," Naik said.

The startling claim comes just days after a young professional from Delhi died of a suspected drug over dose in Goa.

The anti-narcotics cell of the Goa Police have arrested an alleged drug dealer and are trying to find out if he was the one who sold drugs at the music festival where the 23-year-old Delhi girl died a few days ago. (Read: Delhi girl dies of drug overdose in Goa)

The alleged drug dealer, a 44-year-old Goan, was arrested a few metres away from the festival venue at Candolim in north Goa. Fifty tablets of ecstasy and MDMA, a psychotropic drug, were seized from him. (Read: Did dealer held in Goa sell drugs to Delhi girl?)

The girl from Delhi, who worked as a hospitality professional in Bangalore, died at the Sun Burn music festival on Tuesday. Sources say she consumed a hallucinatory drug called Angel Dust, a powdered version of ecstacy, on Tuesday at around 4 pm. By about 7 pm she collapsed, while at the festival, and was hospitalised in a critical condition.

She died of a multi-organ failure.
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