Police arrest seven suspects for planting Indian hemp in Ogun

Seven suspects have been arrested in Ogun State for planting cannabis sativa, also known as Indian hemp in the state.

This was confirmed in a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun, Abimbola Oyeyemi, on Tuesday in Abeokuta, the state capital.

He further stated that the discovery was made last Saturday while the police operatives arrested seven suspects caught planting the weeds on the farm.

Oyeyemi listed them as Nelson Enu, Patrick Emmanuel, Samuel Paul, Ekioya Joe, Monday Okoro, Endurance Eliobe, and Stanley Ogejiagba.

He explained that the arrest followed credible intelligence gathered by policemen at the Isara Divisional Headquarters, that the suspects have cultivated a large expanse of land for the purpose of planting the weeds at Lokuta village in Remo North Local Government Area of the state.

“The intelligence further revealed that the suspects were threatening the life of the villagers who did not initially know what they wanted to use the cultivated land for, for daring to disturb them while the planting was going on,” the statement read.

“Upon the information, the DPO Isara Division, CSP Shobiyi Oluwatoshin, mobilised his men in conjunction with local vigilante and moved to the scene where the seven suspects were arrested.”

According to the command’s spokesman, the police recovered five bags of substance suspected to be Indian hemp seeds from the suspects. However, they had already planted two bags of the seeds.

The Commissioner of Police in Ogun, Lanre Bankole, in his reaction ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for onward transfer to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for possible prosecution.