Police destroys wee farms at Huhunya

Huhunya, Aug. 6, GNA - The Eastern Regional Police Command on Tuesday destroyed several acres of wee plantation at Huhunya in the Yilo-Krobo district.

The plantation mixed with tomatoes and other crops was located on the mountains surrounding the Boti and Akaa water falls. Led by Police Chief Superintendent Enyonam Apate, Eastern Regional Crime Officer and Superintendent John Naami, Koforidua District Police Commander, police personnel set fire to the plantations and heaps of prepared wee ready for sale.

Two suspects, Padi Kwaku and Emmanuel Keteku, who were arrested in a cave on the mountain when the police on a tip-off searched the area, admitted during the interrogation that they were owners of the farms. The suspects who confessed that they started the wee farms about two years ago indicated that they had been farming and living in the caves for the past 18 years but entered the wee farming only to defray some debts they incurred due to ill-health.

According to the suspects they had customers from Accra and other areas and mentioned specifically Avenor, a suburb of Accra where they normally came from to buy their products.

When asked how they were able to meet the buyers considering the long and winding way to the mountains, Keteku responded that they had a particular whistle sound, "which alerts us to come down and meet them for business".

Superintendent Naami who briefed the press later said efforts of the police to clamp down on criminals in the area necessitated the swoop on the wee peddlers, who were believed to be linked to the high rate of crime in the region.

He said within a period of two months the police were able to destroy more than 10 acres of wee plantations in the region. Chief Superintendent Apate said the bags of wee and seedling samples collected would be sent to the laboratories for test while investigations continued to prosecute the two suspects.