Goa :  Travelers' Paradise or just a Trap ? 

The Alexia Stewart story

On a wet and cold February evening in London,  a distinguished British gentleman mingled quietly amongst a group of Goans. The year was 1999, the site was the poorly appointed  India Club, 143 Strand, London WC and the occasion was a get-together of CyberGoans.

The distinguished gentleman was none other than Prof Phillip Stewart, the Director of  Human Sciences at St Anne's College, Oxford. Professor Stewart appeared more than a little lost at a function so full of Goans and their own Goa-Talk. Even so, the good Professor was eventually able to express his concerns about his daughter Alexia, to a number of those that had gathered.

The story goes thus : On March 20, 1998, Alexia Stewart was  in her rented house in the North Goan beachside village of Vagator. She apparently ran a shop selling Indonesian clothes and was in the process of setting up an Internet cafe along with her boyfriend, Gary Carter.

There was a knock on the door. Alexia went and answered it. Seven men and one woman were standing in the porch. They allegedly indicated that they were from the Anti-Narcotics Cell of the Goa Police. They wanted to search the house for drugs.

Two policemen allegedly forced his way into the house. As these officers searched the house, a member of the police party took Alexia to one side,  and offered a quick resolution of the troubles upon payment of  150,000 rupees ($3000). Alexia refused to go along with this blatant attempt at extortion and refused to pay up. In the midst of all this Gary Carter walked in and was quite incensed at the proceedings. A scuffle ensued.

In the midst of this commotion, another policeman is alleged to have walked onto the scene with a black bag containing hashish. The Goa Policemen reportedlyclaimed that they had discovered the contraband drug in the house. Alexia and Gary were hauled on to the back of a police jeep, driven to the Central Police Station in Panjim and charged with the possession of contraband drugs - a charge they both denied.

After a 6 month trial, Alexia Stewart and Gary Carter were found guilty of possession and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment at the notorious Fort Aguada jail.

Over the next 10 months, Professor Stewart and his wife Lucille would work tirelessly to get the conviction overturned. There were many CyberGoans who offered to help stating that they personally knew one high ranking official in Goa or another. There were others who advised Professor Stewart to go public and expose the extortion scam which apparently flourishes on the beaches of North Goa. The good Professor,  took the advice and, wisely, ignored it. Instead, he chose to trust the guidance of his lawyers in Goa.

In October of 1999, the Appeal Courts overturned the convictions and set Alexia and Gary free.

This is a story with a much better ending than what Professor Stewart expected, but it is one which raises serious questions.

1. How were Alexia and Gary, as tourists, able to set up shop in Goa ?

2. When the Goa Police entered their rented accommodation, did they have a search warrant ?

3. On what basis were they convicted in the first place? 

4. Has the Goa Police held an internal audit into this case? 

5. Why has the Goa press not been more vocal about this apparent case of blatant extortion?

6. If the Anti Narcotics Cell is warranted and effective, why are the non-Goan peddlers from North India so "active" on the beaches of North Goa?

7. Is Goa truly a Travelers' Paradise or just another Trap where unsuspecting tourists are waylaid by corrupt officials?

8. Are the details as reported in the UK Telegraph true ? If not, what is being done to restore the name of Goa in the International Press.?

Whatever the answers to the above questions, TGF recommends that travelers to and from Goa and many other world cities, stay clear of drugs and drug spots.

TGF

additional reading:

http://www.oxfordstudent.com/1999-10-28/news/10

Don's Daughter Freed

The daughter of an Oxford don, Philip Stewart, who was jailed for 10 years in India on trumped up drugs charges is to be freed. Alexia Stewart and her boyfriend, Gary Carter, have been incarcerated in the cockroach infested Aguada jail in Goa on the west coast of the sub-continent. Now they appear to have won their court battle to convince the authorities that police planted drugs on then when their home was raided on the popular beach resort. Philip Stewart had led the campaign to prove the pair's innocence.

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