Keerom Police discovered on Saturday a 1-hectare marijuana field in Waris district, Keerom regency, Papua, which shares a border with Papua New Guinea.
“The field has been cleared of plants and we have arrested the owner,” Papua Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Ahmad Mustofa Kamal said in a statement on Sunday as quoted by kompas.com.
He added that the field owner had been identified as 48-year-old Laurens Swo, a farmer who lives near the marijuana field.
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Police personnel found 56 cannabis trees measuring 1.5 to 3 meters high. They also seized one machete, one air rifle, a bow and five arrows during Saturday’s operation.
“Our personnel have uprooted the marijuana plants. We also questioned the suspect at Keerom Police headquarters,” Kamal said. Police charged Laurens under Law No. 35/2009 on narcotics, which carries a maximum punishment of 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp 8 billion (US$582,000). (eyc)
