The Lae drug squad was back to work again today in one of their operations to stem marijuana cultivation and trafficking in the Morobe Province.
Twenty-six young marijuana plants were uprooted at a banana patch in one of Lae’s notorious suburbs.
The plants, found in a small garden at Peter’s block along Lae’s Malahang industrial area, are said to have a street value of close to thirty thousand kina.
Head of the Drug squad, Sargent Bonny Munau, says the raid is the first this year.
The drug squad expects to carry out many more raids before this year’s end.
Earlier today, the Lae drug squad was back to work again.
Lae has been featured prominently as an ideal spot for marijuana trade.
Large quantities that end up in Lae come from the Eastern Highlands Province.
A few have chosen to cultivate it in their gardens to reduce the chances of getting caught while transporting it down from the highlands.
Lae has seen improvements over the last two months. Youths have voluntarily handed in homemade guns, illegal alcohol producing equipment, and have also destroyed marijuana plants.
The raid today comes a month after a similar raid was carried out in the Wafi area of Bulolo district last month. Twenty-seven young marijuana plants were uprooted.
Marijuana cultivation and consumption is widespread in Lae city, and police operations haven’t reduced the problem in any big way.
In Lae, there are people who always know the troublemakers. And police depend on community participation from local leaders to obtain information before they conduct raids.
But this depends on the community’s willingness to hand in to police, one of their own.
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