Goa Police issued notice in Israeli drug dealer case

PANAJI - The Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court Wednesday issued notice to the Goa police asking it to reply within a month to the bail application of Israeli drug dealer Yaniv Benaim alias Dudu, who was arrested here in February.

In his application, Dudu said he should be released on bail because police had not been able to file a chargesheet even 10 months after his arrest.

However, the state police said the chargesheet is delayed because the forensic examination of the drugs seized from him in February was not completed yet.

The Central Forensic Science Laboratory report of the Rs.3 lakh worth of drugs has not been received yet. We will file the chargsheet as soon as the results are received, a police officer said.

According to the police, Dudu was the lynchpin of the drug trade in north Goa, which includes narcotics hubs like Anjuna, Calangute, Arambol and Morjim - all beach stretches known for easy availability of drugs.

Police also said that Dudu was involved in the drug trade in Goa for more than a decade. He was arrested in 2008 by the Mumbai police and had earlier been served a ‘Leave India’ notice as well.