OFFENDERS ARRESTED FOR DRUG CULTIVATION IN NGI

A major crackdown on drug cultivation in the New Guinea Islands sees multiple offenders sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

In East New Britain, a husband and wife from the Baining area have each been sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment with hard labor by the Kerevat District Court who found them guilty of cultivating illicit drugs.

A similar operation in West New Britain led to the arrest of another couple. Members of Mobile Squad 19, attached to plantation security at Lolokoru, apprehended the pair who later led police to their cannabis garden at Wangori village. The Kimbe District Court sentenced them to two and five years in prison, respectively.

Authorities say the difference in sentences shows each case is judged on its own merits by the presiding magistrate. Community leaders are praising the stern penalties, with one stating, that; The harder the penalties, the more considerate a society is.

And as police operations are expanding into rural areas; calls from ordinary citizens is for pursuing the so-called drug lords who are believed to be organizing the trade.