Ketamine is not manufactured, only stored in Goa: Parrikar

Panaji, Aug 3 (IANS) After DRI revealed a ketamine manufacturing factory operating in North Goa, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday told the state legislative assembly that drugs were "only being stored" in the facility .

Parrikar, who was accused by Opposition members during Question Hour for not doing enough to rein in the drug menace, also said that the state government has not been officially intimated by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) agency about the details of the Goa raid.

"When the matter involves multiple-states, the state agency is not the agency to investigate, it is being carried out by DRI who are the authorised agency in such matters

" ..whether it is being manufactured here we don't know. According to my information it was only being stored here," Parrikar said in response to a question from Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro .

Nearly, 100 kg of ketamine and raw material used to manufacture the drug was found at Goa BJP office bearer Vasudev Parab's industrial unit during DRI raid, which was used by NRI Jimi Sandhu to manufacture ketamine.

To another question by Congress MLA Pratapsing Rane, about the action the state government was contemplating over the issue, Parrikar said: "I have written to DRI. It is an international racket. The state government cannot do anything... I have already told very clearly it is a central government agency's inquiry, I cannot interfere in it..." .

Pleading that the debate on banned drugs should not be generalised, the CM said that when the police asked schools in Goa for specific inputs about the drug menace, the response was not enthusiastic.

Earlier, Faleiro blamed the Home Ministry for letting drugs proliferate in the coastal state, known for tourism.

"...it is a reality we are not only manufacturing drugs for Goa, we are manufacturing drugs for the international market. It is happening under our nose, in front of police stations, in our industrial estates, in the tourist locales like Calangute and other places," the Congress MLA said.