Panaji: The Anti-Narcotic Cell (ANC) of the Goa Police on Friday arrested notorious Israeli drug dealer Yaniv Benaim alias Atala.
The Israeli national was in the news in 2010 after his confessional statements on the drug mafia exposed the police-politician-narcotics nexus in the coastal state.
On Friday night, the Anti-Narcotic Cell raided his residence at Siolim village in North Goa, during which they seized 110 grams of charas and 50 grams of cocaine from his possession.
He was immediately placed under arrest after being booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
A Goa Police spokesperson said that the drug dealer was under the radar of ANC sleuths. After confirming intelligence inputs, ANC officials stormed Atala’s rented residence in Siolim.
During the raid, drugs — cocaine and charas — worth ₹8.70 lakh and ₹40,000 respectively, were seized from the accused, the spokesperson added.
