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        The latest report about mafia makes distressing news for India. It says that, with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, crime syndicates controlled by the KGB have been able to establish their presence without fear. Russian President, Vladimir Putin has gone on record saying that organised crime controls large sections of the Russian economy and that murders, kidnapping, criminal attacks and robberies have turned into something of a fact of life. What is relevant for India in this news is the reality that the Russian crime syndicate which was on prowl for well over 50 years had been hunted out from there and that, in seeking safe bases of operations elsewhere, they have invaded Goa. It is reported that the mafia is buying huge tracts of land through benami companies to set up base for running its arms, drugs and flesh trade. Goa, with its lax administration, has become the mafia's favoured destination. It is feared that pockets of Russian influence offered safe havens for international criminals and millions of dollars of slush funds are routed into the country through hawala channels to finance mafia operations. A report of the National Security Council Secretariat says that the flow of unverifiable investments from tax havens such as Mauritius, Cyprus and Cayman Islands and also criminal groups operating from other countries poses a security threat to our economy and that it has been noticed that the Russian mafia has invested large sums in real estate projects. The facility for the mafia here is that foreign direct investment in real estate comes under the automatic approval route. The mafia's tactics are simple,—setting up businesses such as restaurants and hotels which double up as bases for the illegal arms, drugs and flesh trade.

        The Chief Minister of Goa presented to the State Assembly a list of 482 properties bought by foreigners but the Russian real estate deals are absent from the list. Local activists like Devendra Prabhudesai and Mathew Fernands have started an NGO to oppose the entry of foreign anti-social elements in Goa . They point to the Mini Russia created on Morjim Beach where posters in Russian are very prominent. Police officials say that Russian presence in Goa is on the rise and that 75 per cent of the chartered flights coming to Goa are from Russia and the so-called tour operators have hired young English speaking Russian girls to live here on tourist visas and work as guides and agents for Russian companies. And some of these girls are pressed into prostitution for an elite clientele in and around Morjim. This fits in with the sly operations of Russian mafia all over the world and particularly in east and south-east Asia.

        All this news had triggered a storm in the State Assembly. To the virulent criticism of the Opposition leader, Parrikar, the Chief Minister's tame reply was that the administration failed to notice these benami deals since they had been struck by corporate utilising the direct approval route. Also, the government could not justify its passivity because it concerned the issue of national security. For its part, the Goa unit of the BJP is intent on fighting the government's ill-thought out Regional Plan 2011 which would convert 80 per cent of forest land into commercial property. This has stirred the government to probe the alleged involvement of hawala money in real estate deals drawing from whatever help the police could get from the registrar.