‘Police chief, officials helped Israeli drug dealer escape’

PANAJI - Goa Police officials, including the director general of police (DGP), colluded to allow an Israeli drug dealer escape, an opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said Tuesday. The home minister announced an enquiry into the drug dealer’s disappearance.

Addressing a press conference here, state BJP’s chief spokesperson Rajendra Arlekar also alleged that Home Minister Ravi Naik was aware of Yaniv Benaim alias Atala’s escape from Goa and had misled the state assembly during the monsoon session which ended earlier this month.

“Police officers right from the top, including the director general of police, have colluded to allow Atala to escape. They are sabotaging the investigation from the very beginning,” Arlekar said.

Atala, an Israeli drug dealer with alleged links with Naik’s son and several key police officers, including senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, was arrested as part of a probe against the drug mafia but jumped bail and has been missing for more than a month now.

The police Monday admitted that Atala had been missing since the second week of July and that they were unaware of his whereabouts.

‘When the home minister addressed the assembly in the first week of August, he knew that Atala was missing. He did not say so then. He has misled the assembly,” Arlekar said.

“Atala’s escape has proved that top police officers are involved in the drug mafia. There has to be a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the drug mafia nexus now. There is simply no other way,” Arlekar, a former state BJP chief, said.

Naik later told reporters outside his residence in Panaji that an enquiry had been initiated into Atala’s jumping of bail.

“I have ordered police to inquire into how the drug peddler went missing,” the home minister told reporters.

Seven police officers have already been arrested for their links to the drug mafia. A Swedish model and former girlfriend of Atala has also accused Naik’s son Roy Naik of having links to Atala, a charge which both father and son have denied

–Indo Asian News Service