Ghana ‘wee’ enters export market

The Kasoa District Police have intercepted a large consignment of substances suspected to be Indian Hemp (wee) at Papaase, a small community situated along the Kasoa-Bawjiase road in the Central Region.

Two teenagers, Issah Osman and Nuboija Damanjo, both 19 years, were arrested together with the suspected Indian hemp. The substances were in compressed slabs form and neatly packaged in white sacks to outwit the intelligence of security operatives. The slabs had the inscription ‘MK’ written on them and packed in one of the sacks that also had the inscription ‘DL’. They were reportedly meant for export to an unknown destination.

Briefing journalists about the arrest, the Kasoa District Police Commander, Superintendent Samuel Tibil Punobyin, said in early hours of Tuesday, January 20, 2015, he dispatched some of his men in plain clothes to gather intelligence within his jurisdiction. According to him, at exactly 2:00 GMT, he was fed with the information that some farmers were bagging some items, which were very suspicious, at a location in Papaase, an area well known for criminal activities.

In response to the call, he quickly dispatched his team to the scene, where they met a group of people bagging the dried compressed leaves, suspected to be Indian hemp. He said the men behind the illicit drug, on seeing the Police, took to their heels, leaving behind the two boys and a Nissan Patrol vehicle, with registration number GT 1844 E.

Superintendent Punobyin said during a search at the location, they found the compressed dried leaves packed in fifteen white sacks. They also found a driver’s license and a national voter’s ID card belonging to the kingpin of the illicit drug business, Emmanuel Kwaku Obu.

One of the sacks, when opened and content declared in the presence of journalists at the Millennium Police Station, where the exhibits were kept, contained 50 compressed slabs of suspected Indian hemp, well wrapped with a brown material. The compressed slabs looked like a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, to make it very difficult for an ordinary person to identify.

The substance, he argued, was arrested together with the two boys and the Nissan Patrol vehicle found at the location, and sent to the Kasoa District Police Headquarters for further investigations. According to Superintendent Punobyin, they have secured an arrest warrant from the court and would go all out to hunt for the men behind the illicit drug business, especially Emmanuel Kwaku Obu, the kingpin and his accomplice, Sulley, who is a security guard.

He said they are currently holding the boys to assist with further investigations.

He advised the youth to be cautious in dealing with such illicit business, since the Police had revised their operations and would always be ahead of them. Narrating his ordeal to The Chronicle, Issah Osman said he was asleep when his sister called him to accompany her to the farm, where his in-law, Sulley, was working as a security guard.

A few minutes upon arrival on the farm, he heard a shout which said – “run, the police are coming, run”.

He said many people took to their heels but he remained and approached the Police to find out what was happening. To his outmost surprise, he was arrested. According to him, the Police, upon a search on the location found the suspected dried compressed Indian hemp and later told him his arrest was in connection with the found substance. Nuboija Damanjo, also in an interview, said he had travelled all the way from the North to seek for a job on the farm when he met his ordeal.