Hippy paradise with a very seedy side
HALF a million holidaymakers – including more than 100,000 Britons – visit Goa each year, enticed by the Indian state’s cheap deals and winter sun.
Its golden beaches, laid back vibe and abundance of cheap drugs, make the former Portuguese colony a destination favoured by hippies and backpackers.
But murder of Danielle McLaughlin has again exposed a menacing undercurrent.
The seedy side of Goa was depicted in a controversial 2011 Bollywood thriller which had a trailer with the line: ‘Here in Goa, liquor is cheap but girls are even cheaper.’
Tourist chiefs have desperately attempted to downplay the image – and tried to get the film banned – but Goa has developed a reputation for police corruption, extortion and sex attacks which allegedly involve a drug mafia with links to top politicians.
Seven foreigners, including four women, were murdered in Goa between 2013 and February 2016, according to a local paper.
In 2008, the body of Devon teenager Scarlett Keeling was found on Anjuna beach in 2008 after a suspected sex attack. After a painfully slow legal process, two men were last year cleared of raping and murdering the 15-year-old, but only after the trial heard claims about a drugs mafia with connections to senior politicians.
Scarlett’s mother Fiona MacKeown told the court her daughter was fed cocaine, heroin and ecstasy before her death.
She accused Goa’s home minister Ravi Naik and his son Roy of heading a drugs cartel with the help of police. She alleged that Roy had sold drugs to Scarlett and that her daughter may have been murdered on the orders of the local mafia. Mr Naik and his son strenuously deny any wrongdoing. Mrs MacKeown said of Miss McLaughlin’s murder: ‘This story reinforces my belief that Goa is a dangerous place to visit. Scarlett’s murder was covered up and I hope this one isn’t. If they don’t do something, tourists will not feel safe to come to Goa.’
Foreign Office advice features a stark warning to British travellers heading to Goa. It states: ‘There have been reports of drinks being spiked and travellers, including British nationals, subsequently being robbed, sexually assaulted or dying. There have also been reports of locals posing as police officers or government officials in order to extort money, so be alert if approached. Avoid beaches after dark.’
It also warns of reports of bag snatchings on smaller roads in some of the main tourist areas, with thieves ‘with headlights on full-beam to blind their victims.’ It adds: ‘The possession or consumption of drugs is illegal and conviction for either offence may lead to a very long prison sentence. A number of British nationals in Goa die each year due to drug or alcohol abuse.’
Goa’s reputation as a bohemian paradise was sealed in the Sixties when hippies came to Goa in search of peace, love and hashish. But the rise of harder drugs – including heroin, ecstasy and cocaine – has had often devastating consequences.
Stories abound of travellers being fleeced – and sometimes sexually assaulted – in coordinated scams between drug dealers and police in resorts where hotel rooms cost as little as £20 a night. It unusually involves a proposed sale of cheap drugs to naive young tourists on the beach.
But police arrive and threaten the buyer with jail unless they pay the officers a hefty bribe – some of which is given to the dealer – or provide sexual favours.