Panaji: In a raid at the popular Anjuna beach flea market in Goa, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) officials on Thursday seized hundreds of imported cigarettes being sold without the statutory warnings.
An FDA spokesperson said imported brands such as Dunhill, More, Marlboro, Winston, 555, Rothmans, Double Happie, Shooter, Black, Pall Mall, Camel and Richman were being sold at 14 stalls at the weekly market on Anjuna beach, an attraction for thousands of tourists.
"We have warned the stall owners not to sell such cigarettes. It is in violation of the Cotpa Act (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003)," FDA director Salim Veljee said.
Held weekly, the market rose to prominence in the 1970s as a haven for second-hand goods, books and electronic equipment, traded by foreigners low on money or on their way home.
The market has now metamorphosed into a bustling centre of trade selling right from Mediterranean food to exotic leather wear crammed with thousands of foreigners and Indian tourists, who hang out there.
IANS
First Published: Thursday, January 10, 2013, 20:28