The Ogun State Police Command has discovered a large expanse of land cultivated for planting cannabis sativa, popularly known as Indian hemp in the state.
Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Police revealed that the discovery was made last Saturday while the its operatives arrested seven suspects caught planting the weeds on the farm.
Oyeyemi listed them as Nelson Enu, Patrick Emmanuel, Samuel Paul, Ekioya Joe, Monday Okoro, Endurance Eliobe, and Stanley Ogejiagba.
He explained that the arrest followed credible intelligence gathered by policemen at the Isara Divisional Headquarters, that the suspects have cultivated a large expanse of land for the purpose of planting the weeds at Lokuta village in Remo North Local Government Area of the state.
“The intelligence further revealed that the suspects were threatening the life of the villagers who did not initially know what they wanted to use the cultivated land for, for daring to disturb them while the planting was going on.
“Upon the information, the DPO Isara Division, CSP Shobiyi Oluwatoshin, mobilised his men in conjunction with local vigilante and moved to the scene where the seven suspects were arrested”, the statement said.
The command’s spokesman disclosed that the police recovered five bags of substance suspected to be Indian hemp seeds from the suspects. However, they had already planted two bags of the seeds.
The Commissioner of Police in Ogun, Lanre Bankole, in his reaction ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for onward transfer to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for possible prosecution.
