Panaji, June 27 (IANS) Tourists caught at rave party sites in Goa could henceforth be forced to do community service, an official said Monday.

Superintendent of Police, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Ashok Thakker was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Goa Police drug awareness programme launched here.

"Right now, the programme we are working with involves students. But tourists could also be included in the future," Thakker said.

The NCB as well as the anti narcotics cell (ANC) of the state police have taken a leaf out of the Maharashtra Police's book by roping in Pune-based Muktangan, an NGO specialising in drug de-addiction and rehabilitation.

Muktangan was instrumental in getting more than 80 college students do 150 hours of community work after they were caught at a rave party in a farmhouse near Pune last year.

"In Pune, the community programme involved students, but we could try out the same programme for tourists here, because you get a lot of them here. We must rope in the ANC and the NCB for this purpose," said Sanjay Bhagat of Muktangan.

Goa is a hub of rave parties along beaches like Vagator, Anjuna Morjim in north Goa and Palaloem, Agonda in the south, where drugs are openly sold and consumed. Raves are heavily attended by foreigners as well as youngsters from Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore, which are an overnight journey away.