Earlier this year, Goa Police intercepted a consignment of hashish being smuggled into the state.
More than the act of smuggling, though, it was the mode through which the contraband was being transported into the state that left the police worried. The hashish packets were found neatly concealed in the bottom of a steam iron, which was posted in a package being delivered at the hands of an unsuspecting driver.
Concerned at the possibility of many more such cases, the Goa Police have decided to take the assistance of courier and postal service operators besides delivery partners to curb drug trafficking in the coastal state.
The initiative is part of a broader three-year roadmap as part of the ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan’.
Senior police officials recently held an awareness meeting with at least 75 representatives from courier and postal service providers operating across Goa.
During the meeting, the anti-narcotics cell informed the operators about an emerging trend among traffickers to conceal consignments, especially to smuggle cannabis and hashish, in small courier parcels and through the postal services network.
‘Dead-drop method’
The police department noticed that increasingly, traffickers have been using a “dead-drops” delivery method to smuggle narcotics. As part of this, after the buyer transfers money to the seller, they are sent coordinates of a particular location to retrieve the drugs from a rider. The drugs are often ferried by unsuspecting courier delivery partners, who are under the impression that they are handing over a legitimate parcel.
The purpose of the awareness meeting was to sensitise the courier and postal service operators about common concealment methods adopted by traffickers and to look for “suspicious consignments”, especially the ones with pseudonymous bookings, incomplete sender or receiver details, unusual packaging, and high-value parcels with inconsistent declarations.
“Courier and postal service providers are key stakeholders to prevent the misuse of their services by drug traffickers. We flagged the importance of proactive vigilance, strict adherence to KYC norms, verification of consignor and consignee details of parcels, and timely reporting of suspicious consignments to law enforcement agencies,” said a senior police official, requesting anonymity.
Advantage anonymity
“This ‘drop-dead’ method has become quite popular due to the relative anonymity it affords to the traffickers. With drugs being packaged in courier parcels, the delivery partner ferrying them often has no idea about its contents or the sender. The courier service operators, in a way, end up unknowingly facilitating the transportation of narcotics,” the police official added.
In the meeting, the police cited the recent bust, wherein hashish packets were found concealed in the bottom of a steam iron, which was posted in a package.
According to an analysis by the anti-narcotics cell, which was shared at a zonal coordination meeting earlier this month, the most commonly seized drugs in Goa include ganja, charas, LSD, MDMA/ecstasy and cocaine.
Though cocaine is smuggled internationally and makes its way to Goa through other states like Delhi and Karnataka, cannabis (ganja) is trafficked here from Jharkhand and Odisha, according to the police analysis. Charas is trafficked to Goa from Himachal Pradesh and Nepal while LSD largely makes its way into Goa from Kerala. Methamphetamine is sourced from Kerala and Bengaluru and ecstasy/MDMA is trafficked to Goa from Kerala, Maharashtra and Delhi.
A similar assessment in 2023 found that cocaine is sourced from South American countries and makes its way to Goa via the sea route, primarily through shipping containers. LSD paper is brought in flights, concealed in books in luggage while hashish (charas) is trafficked to Goa from Himachal Pradesh and other north Indian states besides Nepal through rail route and via bus.
According to the police presentation, offenders use discreet methods for procurement, storage and distribution of drugs. “Social media platforms, courier services, rented premises, tourist gatherings, and nightlife events are sometimes misused for drug circulation. Coastal belts, tourist areas, nightlife zones, and party locations remain vulnerable to drug-related activities,” the report stated. “Drug trafficking and consumption are noticed mainly in tourist-centric and sensitive areas. Both local persons, inter-state offenders, and foreign nationals have been found involved in drug-related offences,” it added.
Rise in cases
In 2023, Goa police arrested 166 people, including 21 foreign nationals, and registered 140 cases for smuggling narcotics. The number of arrests increased to 192 in 2024 and 213 in 2025, while the cases lodged also went up to 162 and 163, respectively, in 2024 and 2025. In 2026, till August 12, at least 122 cases have been booked, while 135 people have been arrested.
Police said the road map to end drug-trafficking involves four pillars: Enforcement, intelligence and operations; precursors and synthetic drugs control; demand and harm reduction; and capacity building and coordination.
The police also briefed the courier service operators about MANAS National Narcotics Helpline (1933) and urged them to report any information relating to drug trafficking, suspicious consignments, or narcotics-related activities through the helpline.
“We have created a WhatsApp group for coordination with the courier service operators and some delivery partners. If they spot any suspicious parcel, especially near schools and clubs in the coastal belt, we have asked them to report to the police. The idea is also to identify new patterns and get to the original source. One challenge that we face is that there is no regulatory framework overseeing private courier services,” the police officer said.
Goa Police have raised concerns over drug traffickers using courier and postal networks to transport narcotics. (File Photo) 
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