Yinka Kolawole and James Sowole
30 November 2008
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Osun State Command said at the weekend that it had discovered and destroyed 16 Indian Hemp Farms within the state.
In the same vein, Ondo State Command of the agency said the command had arrested 34 suspects and made a seizure of 6.1 tonnes Indian hemp in different locations in the state in the last three months. During the same period, it said, eleven suspects had been convicted for drug offences.
Speaking at the awarness rally for the "Prevention of illicit Drug Cultivation, Trafficking and Abuse" organised in Osogbo, the Commander of the agency, Barrister Mrs W. Audu, represented by her deputy, Mr Onyema Ezeji, stressed that the agency was poised to ensure total eradication of illicit trafficking in narcotic drug and psychotropic subutances.
She said the 16 Indian hemp farms destroyed are made up of 13 from Ila- Orangun, one from Ikoyi in Isokan Local Governmemt, one from Ikire in Irewole Local Government and two in Orile-owu in Ayedaade local goverments all covering 30 acres or 180 plots of land.
The commander emphasised that the command during the year arrested over 174 persons with cannabis totaling 3,460.15kgs within the period. She stressed that the effort paints somewhat a true picture of how hard the agency had worked to sanitise Osun State within the year.
The Ondo State Commandant of the agency, Mr Shedow Gaura, disclosed the action of the agency at the weekend raising alarm over the increase in the cultivation of Indian hemp in Ondo State with its attendant problems especially among the youths.
The commandant, who spoke during the Year 2008 Drug Abuse Awareness Campaign Rally said traditional rulers had a major role to play in discouraging their subjects from planting cannabis in their various domains.
The NDLEA boss who was flanked by the agency's head of operations, Mr. Okon Okon Ulo, pointed out that for the war against Indian hemp cultivation to achieve any meaningful result; traditional rulers must monitor what their subjects' plant in their various farms.
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