A joint team of personnel from the police, military, National Narcotics Agency (BNN), and North Aceh district administration burnt five hectares of marijuana plantation to the ground in Jurong village, Sawang sub-district on Wednesday.
During the law enforcement operation, local police arrested a man, identified by his initials as M, who is suspected of owning the marijuana plantation. Meanwhile, another suspect, identified as F, escaped.
According to Lhokeumawe Police chief, Adjunct Sen.Coms. Eko Hartanto, there were some 15 thousand marijuana plants in the area, which was located on the slope of a hill and could only be reached on foot.
The marijuana plants suspected to have been planted by M two months ago were uprooted and burnt, he said.
If found guilty, the suspect could face life imprisonment, he added.
Police will continue to crack down on drug offenders in North Aceh district by collaborating with the local military and BNN officers, Hartanto said.
"We urge our community members to help us fight against drugs by informing us if they find marijuana plantations inside the administrative areas of Lhokseumawe police precinct," he added.
Aceh is among the Indonesian provinces that remain vulnerable to drug crimes.
On October 22, 2020, the National Narcotics Agency (BNN)-Aceh Office had destroyed 3.5 hectares of marijuana plantation on a mountain slope in Lamteuba area of Aceh Besar district.
Assisted by local police and military personnel, scores of BNN officers had uprooted thousands of cannabis plants cultivated on a damaged forest site and burned them down.
BNN-Aceh Office head Heru Pranoto said destroying the marijuana plantation on one of Mount Seulawah’s slopes was part of the Aceh law enforcement agencies' war on drugs.
"Our common mission will never end. We will keep searching for other marijuana plantations. BNN officers have repeatedly destroyed cannabis cultivated in Aceh over this past year," he remarked.
Local residents' participation in the war against drugs and the information provided by them has helped BNN officers detect and destroy marijuana plantations, which are mainly located in isolated areas, he added.
Marijuana is just one of the illicit drugs that drug traffickers in Aceh have routinely transported to other Indonesian provinces, said police.
There have also been attempts to smuggle crystal methamphetamine into Aceh from Malaysia for trade inside and outside the province, officials said. (INE)
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