Narcotics money trail ends in Goa real estate

The Enforcement Directorate is on the trail of narcotics tainted funds generated in Mumbai, Goa and north Karnataka and then subsequently diverted into the real estate industry in the city and coastal towns of Goa. ED officials claim that huge amounts of narcotic funds are routed out of the country to tax havens abroad and then routed back as investments in real estate, in Goa and Mumbai.

ED stumbled upon the money laundering activities during the course of investigations into tainted funds routed from tax havens being used to buy properties in Goa and Gokarna in Karwar district of north Karnataka, in September 2010. Gokarna is located around 125 kilometres from Margao in Goa and is a drug haven for foreign tourists and Mumbai party- hoppers, which is dominated by the Russian mafia believed to be linked to the Dawood Ibrahim syndicate and terrorist outfit operatives from Kashmir.

It had come to light that a sizeable amount of drug- tainted money from Goa and Gokarna which is one of the prime spots for chemical drug trafficking run by the Russian mafia syndicates, is routed through hawala channels and money transfer companies to tax havens around the globe and then diverted to Mumbai.

" In Goa and Gokarna, the Russian and Israeli narcotics syndicate is active and huge amounts of narcotics tainted funds are used for buying properties in the name of locals. A score of properties have been purchased by foreign nationals, during their visit to India on a tourist visa, while FEMA stipulates that a non- Indian citizen should be a ' resident of India' (residing in India for more than 182 days) at the time of carrying out a real estate transaction.

The entire network of laundering the tainted drug money into properties in Goa, Gokarna and Mumbai, is managed by the slush money handlers operating out of Mumbai. Banking operations too are coordinated by Mumbai- based slush money handlers who primarily deal with narcotic tainted funds and manage a chain operations in tax havens," said a ED official. ED is probing around 300 cases of drug funds laundering in properties in the three states.