CANADIAN IT ENGINEER CAUGHT WITH CHARAS WORTH ABOUT Rs 25,000

PANJIM: A Canadian tourist, an IT engineer by profession, was caught with 210 grams of charas by the Pernem police late Tuesday night. The accused claimed that he had bought the "stuff" from a local at Arambol junction for self-consumption.

David Underwood, 39, was caught red-handed rolling the charas into a joint with a little bit of tobacco at Arambol beach, by a police team led by PSI Sachin Narvekar.

The police team was carrying out a drive on the beach belt to book persons smoking in public places in violation of provisions of the Indian Tobacco Control Act, 2003. The Act aims at curbing smoking in public places in order to protect individuals from the hazards of second-hand tobacco smoke.

"On searching him (Underwood), we found that he was in possession of 210 grams of charas worth about ` 25,000. He claimed that he had bought the charas from a local near Arambol junction for personal consumption and had no intention to sell it," said police sources. Underwood had arrived in Goa two weeks ago on a tourist visa, police sources said.

In another incident, Bicholim police arrested a 70-year-old person from Karnataka who had come from his hometown in Haveri to deliver 380 grams of ganja to a customer in Sanquelim. Nazir Ahmed, a daily wager and unemployed for quite sometime, had arrived in Goa with the consignment, police sources said. (TNN)