GOA, India -- The peaceful, fun-loving and tourist-friendly image of India's western beach state of Goa has suffered a major blow after a new police report pointed to at least 59 "mysterious deaths" of foreign tourists in the past 15 months. Twenty-five of the visitors died in a three-month period -- the peak tourist season between December 2003 and February 2004 -- and many suspect most of the deaths were caused by drug overdoses. "Up to 10 foreign tourists had died here almost every year, and it hardly made any news. But this time the toll was sensationally high," said David Lobo who runs a restaurant at Calangute, a beach popular among foreign tourists. [continues 1369 words]
NEW DELHI -- PAKISTANI drug traffickers are using carrier pigeons to smuggle more than UKP60m of heroin each year from Afghanistan. Traffickers on both sides of the border use flocks of pigeons to carry heroin to Pakistan, where many gangs which supply European dealers are based. Afghan refugees are being paid to carry the pigeons packed in small cages back into the border villages in the home country where makeshift drug refineries are located in areas controlled by different Afghan warlords. About 10gs of heroin are stuffed into a bullet-shaped tin capsule which is then fastened to a pigeon's leg. Once the birds are released from Afghanistan, they take between one and two hours to reach their lofts in Pakistan, where the capsules are collected by traffickers. [continues 395 words]
DRUG traffickers in Pakistan are using carrier pigeons to beat the latest technological advances in surveillance. The Daily Times of Pakistan, quoting intelligence sources, said flocks of pigeons were being used by Afghan and Pakistani drug traffickers to carry their wares from Afghanistan to Pakistan where the traffickers are mostly based. The homing pigeons being used by the traffickers have their lofts in safe custodies in the villages along the western frontier region of Pakistan. From Pakistan it is mostly the Afghan refugees who carry the pigeons packed in small cages to the bordering villages of Afghanistan where make-shift drug refineries are located in areas controlled by various Afghan warlords. [continues 83 words]
