Olympian, ex-Russian cop and an illicit LSD lab: How an international drug cartel in Goa was busted

Over the past fortnight, the NCB has arrested four people — Varganova, Andre, local peddler Akash and drug manufacturer A Kundu — for their alleged involvement in running the cartel. The NCB recovered a large contraband of narcotics, including 2,552 LSD blots, cocaine, charas, hydroponic weed, some MDMA powder, 25 psilocybin mushroom capsules, fake identification documents and drug sale proceeds in Indian and foreign currency from the possession of the accused. In terms of scale, the NCB officials said, the haul is one of the biggest seizures of LSD stamps in Goa in recent years.

According to an NCB official, following intelligence inputs about a Russian woman supplying narcotics exclusively to foreign nationals in Arambol and its adjoining areas, surveillance was mounted on Varganova in April. After an extensive recee, officials intercepted Varganova on April 14 and recovered small quantities of drugs from her possession — 2.5 gm charas, 2 gm methamphetamine and 0.3 gm of ecstasy.

The NCB recovered a large contraband of narcotics, including 2,552 LSD blots, cocaine, charas, hydroponic weed, some MDMA powder, 25 psilocybin mushroom capsules, fake identification documents and drug sale proceeds in Indian and foreign currency from the possession of the accused. (Photo: NCB)

The official said while Varganova did not cooperate with the investigators and insisted that she only used drugs for consumption, their investigation revealed otherwise.

“According to our probe, she is a peddler who procured narcotics from different sources to sell locally. To evade surveillance, she avoided using mobile phones and catered only to a Russian clientèle. Anyone who wanted to procure drugs from her would come to her house, which had a dedicated area for consuming drugs, make the purchase and leave. She was earlier staying in Anjuna, but moved to a rented 2-BHK in Arambol about 18 months ago,” said the official.

He added that they had received a tip-off about Varganova while they were working on another case related to international drug trafficking that they had cracked. Following that, they put Varganova under surveillance for nearly six months.

NCB interrogation revealed that Varganova was an international swimmer of repute who won the silver medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics in the 200-metre breaststroke category.

Mumbai NCB zonal director Amit Ghawate, who supervised the operation conducted by the NCB’s Goa unit over the past fortnight, said that prior to 2021, Varganova would visit India frequently. “After her husband passed away in Russia in 2021, she settled down in Goa and that is when, we believe, she got into peddling,” Ghawate said.

Officials said Varganova, who has a daughter who is married in Moscow, had a large network of friends in Goa, including Russian, Canadian and UK nationals.

According to officials, Varganova graduated in Physical Activity and Sports from the Academy of Physical Culture and Sports, Moscow Oblast, in 1986. An officer said while her other sources of income are unknown, she received a stipend from the Russian government for the Olympic medal she had won. Varganova, the officer said, paid Rs 20,000 as rent for the Arambol house.

The next link

Chasing leads following Varganova’s arrest, the NCB arrested Akash, a peddler from Arambol, on April 28. Officials said he was allegedly part of a larger network and worked on the directions of a Russian, believed to be the ‘kingpin’ of the cartel.

Like with Varganova, they hit a wall with Akash too. The narcotics they recovered from him were not considered a significant haul — 9 LSD blots, 30 gm of hashish and a tablet of MDMA — besides the cash seizure of Rs 28,000. But his sustained interrogation led them to the alleged ‘kingpin’ — Andre, a former Russian policeman who operated out a house in Mandrem.

Officials intercepted Varganova on April 14 and recovered small quantities of drugs from her possession — 2.5 gm charas, 2 gm methamphetamine and 0.3 gm of ecstasy. (Photo: NCB)

The same evening, a team of the NCB unit in Goa intercepted Andre from Ashwem beach, where he had gone for a swim. “Our men jumped into the sea and got hold of him. He was evasive and refused to even tell us his address when we nabbed him on the beach. So we showed Andre’s photograph to locals and finally traced his house that night. It was about 300 metres from the beach,” the officer said.

It was here that they stumbled on their big haul — 59 LSD blots, 8.8 gm cocaine, 16.49 gm hash oil, 210 gm charas, 410 gm hash cake, 1.440 kg hydroponic weed (ganja), laptops and mobile phones. Besides fake documents, officials also found drug sale proceeds in various currencies totalling approximately Rs 6 lakh. Three pots of cut root hydroponic weed plants were also allegedly recovered from his house.

“Andre was quite skilled at growing hydroponic weed in his house. The narcotics, including fresh buds of weed, had been laid out on a table for packing into small plastic bags,” said an official, adding that they had initially assumed the weed had been sourced from outside, possibly from carriers or even the Dark Web, but videos on Andre’s phone confirmed that he had grown the hydroponic weed at his house.

An NCB official said they had written to the Russian Embassy to get more details on Andre and Varganova.

“So far, we have found that Andre would come to India during the tourist season to sell narcotics and then leave for Russia. We found two different Russian passports on him, along with an international driving license,” the official said.

Andre, who worked as a physical trainer in the Russian police for three years, has been coming to Goa for the past 15 years, the official added. “He visited many cities to spread his network and had been managing an extensive network of street peddlers. He has not been forthcoming about where he sourced the other drugs from.”

The officials stumbled on their big haul — 59 LSD blots, 8.8 gm cocaine, 16.49 gm hash oil, 210 gm charas, 410 gm hash cake, 1.440 kg hydroponic weed (ganja), laptops and mobile phones. (Photo: NCB)

Officials said the market rate for hydroponic weed is at least 10 times higher as compared to regular weed. A gram of hydroponic weed is typically sold for Rs 2,000-5,000, according to estimates by NCB officials.

The factory haul

Sustained interrogations of Varganova, Andre and Akash, and the pursuit of leads in other cases of drug hauls led the police to their next big catch: a clandestinely run LSD manufacturing unit operating in Anjuna.

“We had been getting information about various local drug groups approaching a big manufacturer for supply of LSD. Surveillance by one of our field units led us to this lab in Anjuna,” said an official, adding that they arrested Kundu, the factory owner, after an initial search. Officials seized 2,464 LSD blots (61.97 gm), besides 10.47 gm MDMA powder, 76.6 gm hashish moist powder, 60.5 gm hydroponic weed, some hashish and 25 psilocybin mushroom capsules. Officials also found a huge stack of raw paper used for preparing LSD blots, paper cutting machines and droppers.

“Kundu confessed that he has been involved in the illicit manufacturing of drugs for the last few years. He was in contact with foreign nationals and various syndicates across several cities for supply of drugs,” said officials.

According to NCB officials, the most commonly sold drugs in Goa include hashish (charas), LSD, MDMA tablets, ecstasy, cocaine, cannabis and ganja. In 2022, the state reported a rise of 65 per cent in drug seizures as compared to 2021, with the police seizing 207 kg of narcotics. The prevalence of synthetic drugs/chemicals like cocaine, MDMA, LSD, methamphetamine, etc., is much higher in Goa as compared to other states, said an official.