Panaji: Over a month after a BJP senior
legislator demanded Goa Government?s intervention to release a
drug peddler, the party?s state unit today said the MLA was
"joking".
"It must have been a sarcastic remark. He must have
been joking," Goa BJP President Laxmikant Parsekar told
reporter here.
The MLA, Dayanand Mandrekar, who is also a former
Minister, during the recent Assembly session, had sought the
government`s intervention in releasing a drug peddler lodged
in a Mumbai jail.
Savlo Gaonkar, a youth hailing from Mandrekar`s Siolim
constituency, was arrested by Mumbai`s Anti-Narcotic Cell.
Mandrekar had said "the youth needs mercy as he was
lured into (drug) trade by bigger sharks."
The Goa BJP chief said the main Opposition party has
adopted zero tolerance towards narcotics trade in the tourist
state. He said the BJP was concerned over increasing clout of
drug mafia in Goa.
In March, half a dozen policemen were arrested for
alleged links with drug peddler Yaniv Benaim alias Atala.
Atala`s girlfriend Lucky Farmhouse has claimed that son of a
senior Goa politician often visited their place.
-PTI
