The Bolgatanga Regional Police Command, in the early hours of Wednesday, arrested Naba Yidaana Mahama, a 60-year-old sub chief of Bapiaala in the Upper East Region, for cultivating Indian hemp.

About 80 mini bags of fresh leaves suspected to be Indian hemp and other dried leaves were retrieved in the swoop in which about 10 suspects, including a pregnant woman and two breastfeeding mothers, were arrested.

Another woman, Yaa Nyaka, is on the run, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Isaac Alex Quainoo, Bolgatanga Regional Police Commander, said.

Briefing the media in Bolgatanga, DCOP Quainoo explained that the police, upon a tip off, went to Bapiaala, a farming community in the Talensi District, to ascertain for a fact that some people were cultivating cannabis in and around houses and farms in the area.

The police on their arrival found that cannabis was being cultivated in the area and when a search was conducted in the house of one Yidaana Mahama, who later identified himself as the sub chief, they retrieved five mini bags of the dried leaves and unspecified quantities of fresh leaves grown around his house suspected to be Indian hemp.

DCOP Quainoo said the chief was quizzed and escorted to a farm where the product was being cultivated in large quantities.

The police arrested one Shaibu Yandema, 35, and Mbalemna, 66, in whose homes two polythene bags of the substance were found.

Later, two of the culprits, whose names were given as Yahaya, 50, and Benso, 17, were also arrested, and 68 bags of Indian hemp retrieved from them, DCOP Quainoo said.

He said 23 bags of the substance were found with four of the women, and that the culprits would be arraigned before a court while investigations continued.

DCOP Quainoo appealed to members of the general public to volunteer information that would lead to the arrest of such deviants in the society.

“Nobody should sit unconcerned because eventually everybody would be affected since those who would patronize the substance might foment trouble when intoxicated," he said.