The police arrested a Russian national and seized 218gm of psilocybin mushrooms, 7.9kg of mushroom buds, 2kg of marijuana and 150 psilocybin mushroom spores (seeds)
The anti-narcotics cell of Goa Police busted a ‘magic mushroom’ cultivation unit run from a rented room in Arambol, a coastal village in north Goa, and arrested a Russian national after recovering 218gm of psilocybin mushrooms, 7.9kg of mushroom buds, 2kg of marijuana and 150 psilocybin mushroom spores (seeds), all worth ₹1.70 crore in the international market.
The arrested Russian national was identified as 33-year-old Evgeny Morkovin.
The raid follows the arrest of an Israeli national named Naar Yaakov last week for allegedly peddling in ‘magic mushrooms’.
“The ANC staff raided the rented premises of the accused at Arambol. During the search, the police seized a commercial quantity of psilocybin mushrooms worth ₹8.72 lakh and 2kg of ganja worth ₹2 lakh. It was during the raid that the ANC discovered that the said Russian national was not only selling the banned narcotics but had also planted psilocybin mushroom buds in numerous glass jars for growing the contraband that weighed about 7.93kg worth ₹1.58 crore,” superintendent of police (ANC) Bossuet Silva said.
