Hyderabad: Edwin Nunes, owner of the Curlies restaurant in Goa who was on Thursday arrested by the Hyderabad Police in a narcotics case, had built a dark empire under political patronage to evade the law, police sources said. Nunes, who was among the five accused arrested in the death of BJP leader Sonali Phogat in Goa in September, was arrested from the Anjuna area in Goa in a narcotics case.
Police sources said that Nunes played a key role in the supply of drugs from Goa to Hyderabad. Nabbing Nunes was not a cakewalk for the Hyderabad police, which was on the lookout for him for the last three months. Police sources said that Nunes had built a dark network of his own involving narcotics smuggling and had developed political connections to dodge police every time he came under the scanner.
Also read: Curlies restaurant owner Edwin Nunes arrested by Hyderabad Police in Goa
Edwin started life as a hotel server and soon became a drug smuggler. He made contact with the foreigners who came to the hotel and sold drugs and became a trader in no time, sources added. He maintained very close relations with police and politicians and bribed them to keep them at bay. Having accumulated crores of rupees through the drug trade, Nunes bought properties in Goa and Mumbai with the help of his uncle Sebastian and invested in the film industry.
It is said that he used to invite movie stars for celebrations in pubs on special events. Sources said that after police named Nunes as accused in the Sonali Phogat death case, 10 legal experts were appointed for Edwin's anticipatory bail for which Rs. 2.5 crores was spent in 3 months. A police officer said that Nunes has 50,000 buyers in the supply chain of drugs.
Among them, there may be up to 2,000 people from Telugu states, the officer said. On Monday, the police will file a petition in the court seeking 5-day custody of Nunes.
