No fewer than 255 hectares of cannabis sativa farms, otherwise known as Indian hemp, worth over N900 million naira, have been destroyed by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Ondo State command.
The operatives from the five commands of the agency in a sting operation had stormed the farms in various parts of the State, where 13 suspects were also arrested.
During the operation, which lasted about a week, 50 hectares, where the illegal plant was planted, were destroyed at Ogbese in Akure North Local Government Area of the State, 19 at Ipele and 58 at Okeluse both at Ose Council Area.
30 hectares of the plantations were also destroyed at Ala in Akure axis of the State, and another five farms along Ogbese River bank and Omolowo/Powerline forest in the State.
With large number of cannabis nursery beds and seeds also destroyed, the NDLEA’s special strike force team from Ondo, Edo, Osun, Oyo and Ekiti States was led by the agency’s Deputy Director Strike Force, Nnadi Chidi.
During the raids, the agency also seized 250 kilograms of cannabis seeds, 63 kilograms of cannabis weed, 20 kilograms of dried cannabis, two irrigation water pump equipment, and over 1,500 meters of hose.
Chidi stated that the exercise was part of General Buba Marwa’s (rtd) determination to reduce the drug circulation in Nigeria to the barest minimum.
According to Nnadi, the Ondo State Command of the agency had received information about large irrigated cannabis cultivation spread across five local government areas of the State.
He maintained that it prompted the deployment of the Strike Force unit and officers from the State commands of Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Oyo, and Osun to completely destroy the illegal cannabis cultivation in the State.