CBI team to leave for Peru to get Israeli drug dealer to India

Panaji, Aug 17: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team will leave for Peru on Thursday to bring back Israeli drug lord, an important link in policemen-drug peddler nexus reported in Goa, a senior official said today (Aug 17).

Yaniv Benaim alias Atala had jumped the bail in Goa in August last year and was re-arrested in Peru in January, 2011.

The look-out circular was issued against him by the Interpol, which helped in nabbing him while he was traveling from Israel to Peru.

Deputy Inspector General of CBI Pravin Salunke said that all the clearances to get Atala into India are in place.

"We will have to get him from there and a team led by police inspector will visit Peru on Thursday (Aug 18)," said Salunke, who is personally monitoring the drug-nexus investigations.

He said that the extradition formalities are completed and Atala would be interrogated in Goa. The fugitive would be brought under tight security cover to Goa considering his importance in the case.

Atala is an important link in the drug nexus case, which was exposed last year through a spy cam video shot by his former girlfriend Lucky Farmhouse.

The stunning revelation, which was further probed by Crime Branch had seven policemen arrested for having links with drug dealers.

The sleuths attached to elite Anti Narcotic Cell (ANC) were found to be pushing back drugs, which was seized in the raids, in the coastal belt.

Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik's son, Roy's name has also come under scanner during the investigation. Farmhouse had claimed that Roy was a frequent visitor to their place and was providing them drugs.

Bombay High Court at Goa, through an order, had handed over the investigations to CBI after Congress-led students' organisation Nationalist Students Union of India (NSUI), filed a petition alleging shoddy probe by Crime Branch.

PTI