Military finds marijuana trees on Indonesia-PNG border

Patrol of the Battalion 126 / KC security task force has found marijuana trees planted in a border area between the Indonesian province of Papua's Banda village, Waris Sub-district, Keerom District, and Papua New Guinea (PNG).


Commander of the battalion Lieutenant Colonel Infantry Mulyo Junaidi told ANTARA in Jayapura on Sunday that a routine patrol carried out by its members on Saturday (July 27) found six marijuana trees and a package containing dried marijuana which was allegedly not taken by the owner.

Initially members of the patro found a package containing dried marijuana while resting on the edge in the middle of the forest.

Shortly after finding a package containing dried marijuana, a group led by Chief Sergeant Ruslan Simamora conducted sweeping around a hut and found a cannabis tree as high as around 20-60 cm.

"Patrol members were able to go back to sweeping, but did not find the marijuana tree so they returned to the post carrying six cannabis trees and one package of dried marijuana," Mulyo said, adding that the discovery of the cannabis tree estimated that there were plants on the mountain.

The Indonesia-PNG border with hilly terrain and wilderness is used as a group of people to harvest marijuana trees which are then sold to Jayapura (capital of Papua Province) and surrounding areas.

 Reporter: Evarukdijati/Eliswan Azly