Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Goa Police are expanding their anti-drug strategy beyond conventional raids and arrests by bringing courier companies, postal agencies and delivery personnel into the fight against narcotics.
The move comes amid growing indications that drug networks are using ordinary delivery channels to move contraband while keeping consignments indistinguishable from legitimate parcels.
More than 80 representatives from courier and postal agencies recently attended a police awareness programme in Panaji, where they were briefed on how to identify parcels that could warrant closer scrutiny.
Police have asked logistics operators to remain alert to bookings carrying incomplete sender or receiver details, pseudonymous names, unusual packaging, suspicious declarations or unusually valuable contents.
The focus is particularly on consignments that could be used to transport cannabis, hashish and synthetic drugs in small quantities.
Investigations by the Anti-Narcotics Cell have previously uncovered cases where drugs were concealed inside everyday objects, including books and photo frames, before being dispatched through courier networks.
Officials believe delivery personnel could provide an important early warning mechanism because they come into contact with parcels at multiple stages before they reach their final destination.
Police said the initiative will involve continued interaction with logistics companies, awareness programmes and information sharing as part of Goa’s three-year action plan under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan.
The broader objective is to disrupt the movement of drugs through Goa and prevent the state from becoming a convenient transit point for interstate and international trafficking networks.
