GOVT TO TAKE SERIOUS ACTION AGAINST CANNABIS GROWERS

Lusaka -- Serious measures will be taken after the Drug Enforcement
Commission concludes the ZEGA cannabis investigations, said agriculture
minister Mundia Sikatana yesterday.

Commenting on the arrest of Zambia Export Growers Association chairperson
Sydney Chileshe for cultivating over K4 billion worth of cannabis in one of
his green houses in Lusaka's Makeni area, Sikatana said his ministry and
government was restrained from commenting on the matter since the case was
already under investigations.

"If growing of cannabis is widespread in green houses then the issue is
serious," Sikatana said. "We cannot comment now but after these
investigations are over you will be surprised with measures and mechanisms
that government will put in place."

Sikatana said the law was clear that cannabis growing was not allowed in
Zambia.

Chileshe's lawyer, Kelvin Bwalya, said his client was coping well in police
cells and that a lot of friends visited him yesterday.

Bwalya said the DEC officers were supposed to record statements yesterday
but they were ordered not to proceed by their superiors.

"We expected that the DEC will move fast to take Mr. Chileshe to court
since the offence is not bailable but this has not happened," Bwalya said.
"I am hoping that the officers will record the statement tomorrow (today)
and then he might appear in court in the afternoon. If he will not appear
in court, I will think of some other course of action to take."

Chileshe is being held at Kabwata Police Station by with 10 of his employees.

And ZEGA managing director Luke Mbewe when contacted over the development
yesterday said an emergency meeting had been called and could only comment
on the matter today.

He refused to be drawn into discussing reports that there were other ZEGA
members being probed over the illegal use of green houses.

During the swoop on Chileshe's farm, DEC officers also found several pots
where seeds were planted before being transplanted.

Some seed packs indicated Holland as the source. At the Netherlands Embassy
in Zambia, officials said they could not immediately comment on the matter
as they were in a meeting.