Two key suspects were arrested in Kouoptamo on September 23^rd while 2,000 kg of hemp were burnt.

Security forces led by the Kouoptamo Brigade commander, Chief Warrant Officer Mvogo Roger have uncovered a three-hectare plantation of Indian hemp in a small village called Mbagam 1 on September 23^rd. The village is situated some 15 km from Kouoptamo town in Noun Division of the West Region.

Meanwhile some two suspects, 40-year old Yonta Jonas, main cultivator of the drug and one Doualla Levis, 66 years, have been arrested and detained at the Kouoptamo Gendarmerie post. At the time of their arrest, they were found in possession of 40 bags of Indian hemp weighing some 2000kg. The 23^rd September discovery is occurring just one week after Governor Midjiyawa Bakari personally supervised the burning of some 4 tonnes of Indian hemp seized in that same locality of Kouoptamo.

The SDO for Noun Division Mr.Mbozo’o Nnoumengong Pascal, in the company of the Divisional Officer of Kouoptamo, Mr. Silla Thomas Charly spent one day visiting these plantation. According to the SDO, more law enforcement attention was directed toward the villages of Mbagam 1 and Gpanya where Indian hemp smuggling groups appeared to have made their inroads into the business. This was within the framework of the operation to fight criminality and drug smuggling in the Noun Division launched recently by Governor Midjiyawa Bakari.

The SDO said it was through the collaboration of the population of these villages that the plantations were discovered. He explained that when the forces of law and order arrived in one of the farms, some eight persons were found harvesting the plants, but the Gendarmes were able to arrest two main suspects while the others including two ladies escaped.

He, however, regretted that among those arrested were two heads of the Bamoun and Batcham communities living in that village. For him, the complex equation is, these community heads offer these drug producers their protection rather than giving the Administration and law enforcement officers their mutual legal assistance. Meanwhile, the 2000kg seized was burnt at the Kouoptamo market square in the presence of the SDO. The culprits will be charged in court in the days ahead.