Politician’s son visited Israeli drug dealer: Swedish model

PANAJI - A leading Goa politician’s son used to meet nearly every day an Israeli drug dealer, now in jail, a Swedish model who helped expose the police-narcotics mafia nexus in the state said Friday.

Lucky Farmhouse, whose spycam videos resulted in the arrest of seven policemen and her Israeli ex-boyfriend Yaniv Benaim alias Atala, also accused the Goa Police of avoiding her, despite her being in nearby Mumbai.

“I have only met his (the politician’s) son; he came every day at our house in Siolim and at evenings to Atala Coffeeshop (in the coastal beachside village of Anjuna). Everyone knows him,” Lucky said in an e-mail interview to IANS, when asked the name of the politician involved in drug trade, suspected to be a minister.

The Goa Police have said they would not probe death threats received by the whistle-blower model from the narcotics mafia.

Lucky said the police were simply not interested in meeting her to collect more video evidence leading to the politician, despite the fact that she was only about 600 km away.

“I have told them that my next planned trip to Goa is in August, but I can come earlier if they want. If it’s very urgent I can come tomorrow. I was waiting for them to ask me to come, I’m sure they know I’ve been in Mumbai,” the 33-year-old model said.

She said she was shooting for commercials in Mumbai.

Seven police officials, including a police inspector and a sub-inspector, were arrested for their links to Goa’s notorious narcotics mafia over the last two months after Lucky’s spycam videos of Atala boasting of his links to the police and politicians were exposed.

The Crime Branch, which was asked to probe the police-politician-drug mafia nexus, also came under severe criticism for trying to sabotage the high-profile probe.

Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar demanded the arrest of the key investigating official, Deputy Superintendent of Police Chandrakant Salgaonkar, for trying to sabotage the probe.

The former chief minister also asked the state government to hand over the nexus-probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).