A NACOB operative inspecting the contraband
THE BONO Regional Police Command has announced the seizure of the largest quantity of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp or Marijuana, known in local parlance as Wee, since the establishment of the Drug Law Enforcement Unit in the region.
The 8,460 compressed slaps of the dried leaves, neatly arranged in 180 fertilizer sacks on a Rhino cargo truck, were en route to Burkina Faso through Hamile in the Upper West Region when the truck was intercepted between Menji and Banda in the Banda District.
The truck, with registration number GR 2474-16, was being driven by a 27-year-old Ayuba Ali at the time of the interception, and a 20-year-old Ametus Sori was his mate.
The Regional Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent Nana Kwaku Duah, said the driver and his mate, both of whom hail from Kunnyukuon near Babile in the Upper West Region, were arrested upon a tip-off last Thursday at about 1:00 am.
He said investigations were ongoing to arrest the owner of the consignment, as the driver and his mate said they were only contracted to cart the consignment of drugs to its destination for a fee of GH¢7,000. The driver told the police that he could not identify the owner of the consignment.
In order to outwit the police, the owner first arranged plywood on the sides of the vehicle after which they loaded the suspected Wee on to the truck. This was then followed by the sprinkling of sawdust on it and covering it with tarpaulin.
Boxes of weedicide were packed on the truck as part of their tricks. Instead of driving straight from Nsawkaw to Wenchi and then through to the Wenchi-Wa highway, they drove to Menji, took the Menji-Banda Ahenkro rough road and passed through Banda Nkwanta before joining the Wenchi-Wa road and moved straight to Hamile in the night.
Chief Superintendent Duah said a team of police officers laid ambush and eventually arrested them.
The driver and his mate would be processed for court on charges of possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority, the regional crime officer said.
Asked whether with the passage of the Narcotics Control Commission Bill, 2019, which allows for industrial production of cannabis, it is still relevant to go after those who cultivate it or deal in it, the Commander of the Drug and Law Enforcement Unit of Ghana Police Service in the region, Detective Chief Inspector Adams Yahaya, explained that the law only allowed for the cultivation of cannabis of 0.3 per cent content of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) but what is commonly cultivated in Ghana has a concentration of 75 per cent THC which is still illegal.
“Even with the passage of the law, any farmer who wants to cultivate it must first obtain a licence before doing so,” he added.
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Sunyani
deanielyaodayee@yahoo.com