POLICE DISCOVER LARGE 'WEE' FARMS IN BOTI AREA (BACK PAGE)

FOURTEEN farms with a total area of approximately 70 acres cultivated with Indian hemp, have been discovered in the thicket near the Boti Falls in the Yilo Krobo District in the Eastern Region.
The farms, believed to be the largest ever to be found in the Eastern Region, had some of the plants already harvested, while the rest were either ready for harvesting or had just been planted.
The New Juaben Municipal Police Commander, Superintendent John Naami, who led a contingent of policemen, community police and men belonging to the neighbourhood watch-dog committee from Korle Nkwanta, a suburb of Koforidua, all totalling 60, had to spend a whole day to destroy just a fraction of the farms by either spraying the crops with weedicides or through burning.
Since it would take the contingent about two weeks to destroy the farms, Superintendent Naami had to call for more men to have it done on time for fear of the farmers harvesting them.
So far four persons namely Dawutey Tawiah, 32, Narteh Felix, 17, a second-year pupil of the Boti Roman Catholic Junior High School, Emmanuel Narh, 54, Emmanuel Akuteye, 60, and 16 others suspected to be owners of the farms have been rounded up.
Also apprehended for questioning was the Chief of Boti, Nene Tei Okletey II.
According to Superintendent Naami, the police had information that the main occupation of the people in the Boti area was Indian hemp cultivation so after carrying out undercover investigations on the matter, the police had to carry out a swoop in the village at dawn last Tuesday, during which some of the suspects were arrested.
He said Akuteye was arrested on the farm during the day while Tawiah, Felix and Narh were apprehended near the farms.
Superintendent Naami who said the 60-man police force would take not less than two weeks to destroy the farms, therefore, had to call for more policemen to do so because most of the crops were ready for harvesting.
Chief Inspector Christopher Tawiah, the officer in charge of police public relations, who was also in the police team to the village, appealed to the inhabitants to volunteer information for the arrest of the culprits, since Indian hemp cultivation is a serious crime.
Meanwhile those arrested in the swoop were being screened to identify those cultivating the crops.