NDLEA, POLICE MOVE TO CHECK DRUG FARMING

(Ondo) - National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has instituted
a joint operation team with men of the state police command and
other security agencies, to reduce cultivation and consumption of
hard drugs, especially cannabis.

NDLEA state Commander, Mr Shedow Gaura, said this while speaking
with reporters in his office in Akure, Ondo State capital, adding
that the action became necessary, to reduce the menace, particularly
in Akure, Ondo, Akoko and Ore, regarded as black spots. He said the
Command is consistently raiding all the areas to reduce the high rate
of consumption of Indian hemp by youths between the ages of 17 and
27, adding that Gaura said Ondo State is one of the highest producers
of cannabis adding that the command had seized 10 tonnes of cannabis,
while about 172 arrests were made between June and December 2007.

He said no fewer than 46 youths were currently going through
rehabilitation to transform their lives and make them useful for the
society and the nation at large.While enumerating some of the
problems faced by the command, Gaura said many of the officers
were attacked by over 300 armed Indian hemp cultivators.

"My major concern is about some people who give their farmlands to
some miscreants to cultivate. I wonder how a right thinking person
will give his farmland for cannabis cultivation, this is really
giving us sleepless nights in the command," he said and urged
people to supply the Command with useful information about farms
being cultivated by the unrepentant cultivators, assuring that the
Command would make such information confidential.