Five suspects caught with 458 bags of Indian hemp

Five suspects were arrested while 458 bags of weeds, suspected to be Indian hemp, were impounded when a team of policemen from the Oyo State Police Command raided a farm at Eleja Village, situated in Ona Ara Local Government of the state. The state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Ndabawa, told journalists on Tuesday that he got an intelligence report on the farm on Friday and acted promptly by sending policemen to the farm. He said, “Upon receipt of the information, a combined team of police personnel from Special Investigation Bureau, 4PMF and Skynet was give the task of investigating the matter. At the village, large quantity of harvested weeds suspected to be Indian hemp was uncovered in an operation that spanned through the night and into the following morning. “Stephen Osanwe, Peter Frank, John Ugoh, Macaulay Akanno and George Elvis were caught at different locations in the village. A total of 458 bags of the weed loaded in three buses and a Volvo car were also taken away by our men,” Ndabawa added. Osanwe, 42, told our correspondent that he was contracted to work on the farm but was arrested when police raided the village. “I don’t grow Indian hemp and I don’t smoke it, I was only given the job of clearing the weed by a man called Monday. He called me on the telephone. I came from Obiaruku in Delta State and I had planned to return immediately after the job. But on getting to the village, I saw people running around but I am not used to the bush, I hid somewhere and I was caught by the police. I had been working there for a month and I knew that the weed was actually Indian hemp. I was promised N900 a bag,” Osanwe said.