The seized. INSET: The suspect
The Northern Regional Police Command has arrested a truck load of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp, between Tinga and Banda Nkwanta in the Bole District of the region.
The driver of the vehicle, Abu Sumaila, 36 and Kwabena Boataleba, 45, together with the owner of the items, Ibrahim Adam have all been arrested and are currently in police detention to be processed before court.
The contraband goods that were compressed in slaps numbered a little over 3400 and were stuffed in 85 bags. Police indicated it was one of the biggest hauls of such items arrested in the region.
According to the Northern Regional Police Commander, DCOP George Tuffour, who briefed the press after the arrest, his men on the highway last Wednesday spotted a fully loaded truck with registration number AS 7414 P approaching their roadblock.
The said vehicle was stopped and it was realized that bags of cement had been packed on top of some items they suspected to be dried leaves; it was confirmed upon thorough checks.
The driver and his mate were immediately arrested but they claimed the items belonged to Ibrahim Adam who was immediately called from Techiman in the Brong-Ahafo Region.
He rushed to the scene in a taxi cab, claimed ownership and tried bribing the police with a cash of 1,400CFA and GH?430 but the cops ignored him and arrested him for trying to bribe them.
DCOP Tuffour told journalists that the three would be taken to court to enable them be remanded for further investigations into the matter.
Meanwhile, samples of the dried leaves were going to be taken to the crime laboratory in Accra for examination and report.
The police chief used the opportunity to caution those whose activities were criminally related to be wary, as the police were out there to arrest and deal with them.
?The police are alert at every time and will be on their nerves till they are all arrested or eliminated from the system,? he warned.
From Stephen Zoure, Tamale
