Farmers held for growing marijuana

Vadodara: Tribal farmers in the interior villages of Chhota Udepur district have come under police scanner for growing marijuana to earn quick money. In the last two days alone, four farmers were arrested in Zoz and Kawant and marijuana stock worth over Rs 97 lakh was seized.
On Tuesday, Kawant police raided a farm and a house of a farmer identified as Anklesh Rathwa in Kasarvav village. Police found 196kg of marijuana crops grown by Rathwa in the backyard of his house while over 66kg of crops were found from his farm. Rathwa was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and arrested.
In another incident, Zoz police arrested three farmers named Raman Nayka, Shankar Nayka and Sursing Nayka from Mithibor village on November 8. Police said that the trio had grown 4,732 plants of marijuana worth Rs 70.9 lakh in their backyard.
“Most of these marijuana growers are found in the interior areas of the district. Preliminary investigation has revealed that these growers sell the stock to dealers from the neighbouring districts,” said superintendent of Chhota Udepur police Dharmendra Sharma.
“We are also investigating further about the source of seeds and who others are involved in buying the crops from these farmers,” he added.
Another police official said that so far, the farmers have not given any satisfactory answer about who had sold the seeds to them. “We have got their custody from the court on Wednesday so we will be able to unearth some information from them soon,” the police official said.