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Volta police discover cannabis cultivation hub

By MyJoyOnline
General News Volta police discover cannabis cultivation hub
FEB 23, 2017 LISTEN

The Hohoe Police say they have discovered a large cannabis cultivation hub in the Afadjato South district of the Volta Region.

The cannabis plantation which is located at Nyive or Obed Asamoah village, a small farming community about 3 kilometres from Ve Koloenu, is believed to be more than 30 acres.

Large numbers of young people in the community are suspected to be engaged in the illegal cultivation of the prohibited herb, considering the size of the plantation.

A police team of about 62 men made up of officers from the Hohoe Divisional Command and the Regional SWAT team invaded the plantation in the early hours of Wednesday.

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According to police intelligence, the plantation belongs to different individuals who have planted corn to serve as boundaries between their respective farms.

The farmers have also strategically laid pipes from a nearby stream to the farms to irrigate the cannabis farms, enabling them to produce all year round.

The police team discovered four water pumping machines, pesticides, weedicides and fertilisers in four sheds which serve as resting places for the farmers.

Joy News' Fred Quame Asare reports that about 35 percent of the plantation was destroyed and set ablaze, while the police team arranges to visit at a later date to destroy the rest and further scout for more plantations.

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Some of the farmers who were on the farm at the time of the police invasion absconded leading to no arrest.

The Hohoe Police Divisional Commander, ACP Ayim Martin disclosed that the operation forms part of the Volta Regional Police Command's intention to clamp down on illegal cannabis cultivation in the region.

"About a month-and-a-half ago we destroyed about a two-and-a-half-acre farm in the same area and today we are here again to destroy a greater portion of the plantation", he said.

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ACP Ayim indicated that "we were told it is a communal farm, some farms are older than the others and they use maize to demarcate the boundaries between each of the farms. It does not belong to one person but we don't as of now know the owners."

He assured that though no individual has been identified as the owner of the plantation, he would prevail on the opinion leaders in the community help the police to apprehend the culprits

"This is because these things [cannabis] are quick yielding, we don't want to waste time looking for the owners of farms, we want to do the distraction first and later on look for the landowners which will lead us to the owners of the farms", he stressed.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Abubakar Ibrahim

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