$2M in ganja reduced to ashes

MORE than $2 million worth of marijuana was reduced to piles of smouldering ashes following a massive counter-narcotics eradication exercise in the Moruga forests on Wednesday.

A National Security helicopter and members of the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit joined the Moruga police in a seven-hour marijuana eradication exercise in the La Lune and Moruga forests. The officers trekked several miles into the dense forests uprooting and slashing over 650,000 fully grown marijuana trees, which were placed in heaps and set afire. The officers also destroyed agricultural implements used to cultivate the illegal but lucrative herb. Three make-shift camps, equipped with wooden racks to dry the marijuana, were also destroyed by the police.  Despite the success of this particular eradication exercise, sources told Newsday the police have only began to scratch the surface in terms of destroying the well-organised local cultivation of marijuana (Cannabis Sativa).  Involved in the exercise were a team of officers led by Sgt Rodriguez and including PCs Nurse, Mohammed, Lee, Chaitan, Morales, Jagdeo and Willis.