NDLEA seizes 13.176 tons of Cannabis

The Ondo State Command of the National Drug Laws Enforcement Agency on Friday seized 13.176 tons of Cannabis Sativa, popularly known as Indian hemp.

The drug, which was packed in bags of various sizes, according the NDLEA boss in the state, Mr. Walter Nicholas, was seized in a single operation.

Nicholas said it took his men three days to locate the point where the drug was packed in a forest.

He said while his men were evacuating the bags containing the drug, they were resisted by the owners, adding that the seizure was made barely one year after the command sized 13.6 tons of the illicit weeds from the owners.

“Should this quantity of drugs found its way into the society; the damage would have been beyond description.” Nicholas said.

He lamented that the more people were getting involved in the cultivation of cannabis because the barons and their cohorts had not been exposed.

“We will not fold our hands and watch anybody, no matter how highly placed, to destroy the future of our children in the pursuit of wealth,” he said.

Also, the state Commissioner for Natural Resources, Mr. Lasisi Oluboyo, raised the alarm that virtually all the forest reserves in the state had been taken over by hemp farmers.

He noted with concern that about 200 various hemp farms were recently discovered and destroyed at the Oluwa forest reserve while scores of others had also been discovered and destroyed at the Owo-Ofosu forest reserves.

He said the Special Task Force on Hemp Cultivation set up by the state government to discourage the illicit weeds’ growers, had been working closely with the necessary security agencies in the state to check the menace.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Sani Magaji, pledged to assist the NDLEA to ensure that the cultivation of the weed was reduced to the barest minimum.

He urged members of the society to rise up and condemn the arbitrary use of drugs by the youth and the get-rich-quick syndrome by some people.