Villager nabbed over marijuana

 By ZACHERY PER

A FATHER of three has been arrested by Chimbu police for allegedly cultivating marijuana.

Police alleged that Olu Maima had been cultivating marijuana plants at Migai village along the Whagi River for years. 

Members of the special police “Operation Weeding Grass” finally caught him last week.

Led by operation commander Detective Yatefa Welis, police travelled to Migai village and uprooted 198 matured plants. Chimbu provincial police commander Superintendent Albert Beli confirmed the arrest. 

Maima will appear before the Kundiawa District Court this week. 

Beli said there were other ways men could support their families such as coffee farming and selling food crops at the market rather than cultivating marijuana.

“I warn anyone involved in cultivating marijuana to stop,” he said. Welis said Maima told police he had been involved in the marijuana trade to sustain the livelihood of his three children after his wife left him two years ago.

“We followed a tip-off to check along the Whagi River and into Migai village where the suspect was found tending his marijuana garden. We arrested him and uprooted 198 matured marijuana plants,” Welis said.

Migai village is about four kilometres outside Kundiawa town.