Police drug busts can be of all kinds. While sometimes the dragnet hauls in kilos worth of expensive narcotics, sometimes they end up with a couple of potted plants.
Mangaluru police on Wednesday arrested Joshwa D’Souza, an 18-year-old resident of Munoor village, for allegedly cultivating cannabis in flower pots inside his house.
According to a press note, the Economic and Narcotic Crime sleuths led by Inspector Mohammed Sharief, raided D’Souza’s house and found two flower pots growing cannabis plants.
The Times of India reported that the police acted on a tip-off and raided Joshwa’s house. They found a total of eight plants weighing 74 grams. However, police refused to confirm if the engineering student was growing and selling the banned substance earlier.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Traffic) Uma Prashant told The Hindu that the Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances Act, makes cultivating cannabis an offence. Officials said that besides the cannabis plants, they also seized eight grams of cannabis seeds reportedly procured by Joshwa. Police are now trying to find out where he got the seeds from.
When it comes to growing cannabis at home, though, there have been more daring cases uncovered in south India in the recent past. In January, for instance, the Hyderabad police had similarly raided a flat in Manikonda. In that case, 33-year-old Syed Shahed Hussain was found to have set up a comprehensive marijuana-growing operation in two bedrooms of his 3-BHK flat.
He had installed ultra-violet lights to provide artificial heat for the growing plants, was using an air-conditioner and fan to maintain ideal temperatures, was nourishing the plants with phosphorous and potassium, and used cocofibre pith, flora pellet, Aquasol, Aquadene and cay stones as a germinating medium.
That police raid yielded nearly 8.6kg of marijuana, and 40 pots growing the plants.
The latest Mangaluru incident comes to light a day after police in Kavoor arrested Mohammed Haris (42) for allegedly growing cannabis in the land taken on lease from another man named Vineet Jalan.
The Central Sub-Division’s Anti Rowdy Squad also arrested Dhanush (22) of Hosabettu for allegedly selling cannabis to college students, reported The Hindu.
The same squad had also earlier arrested Anish Amin (24) and Digambar Biswas for illegal possession of eight packets of cannabis.