4 farmers nabbed with 42 bags of Indian hemp

Operatives of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested four farmers who allegedly specialise in planting Indian he mp.

Forty two bags of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp were said to have been recovered from the suspects. The suspects are 19-year-old James Tiva, Anayor Okechukwu, 25, John Chid, 32, and Felix Tehemeh, 20.

Our correspondent gathered policemen arrested the men on Saturday following a tip-off that the Ijebu-Igbo divisional police headquarters received from some informants.

According to the informants, some Indian hemp farmers who had just harvested their products would be passing through the town with the weeds. A statement yesterday by the police spokesman, Abimbola

Oyeyemi, said.

The police spokesman added that following receipt of the information, the Divisional Police Officer, Superintendent Kaseem Solotan, mobilized his men and stormed the location where the suspects were arrested with the exhibits.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects had a large expanse of land inside the forest where the weed was being cultivated on a yearly basis,”

Oyeyemi said.

Oyeyemi disclosed that the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Bashir Mlakama, had ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for investigation.

The police spokesman quoted Makama as applauding members of the public for their alertness and provision of necessary information that led to the arrest of the suspects.