Zimbabwean police have busted a massive dagga-growing syndicate at Sipedza Village outside Beit Bridge. In the process, they arrested two suspects, one of them a village head, for allegedly cultivating more than 1 800 dagga plants.

The local police spokesperson, Supt Wonder Mavhudzi, said the suspects, Issau Moyo (56), the village head, and Bhekimpilo Sikhosana (43), were arrested during an early morning raid last Friday. “We received information during the Easter long weekend that the two men were cultivating dagga. We then mobilised our resources and deployed our officers, and they raided the homestead of one of the suspects. They found 1 863 plants of mbanje, measuring between 2cm and 150 cm tall,” he said.

Mavhudzi said they also discovered a nursery where there were about 600 plants in a swampy area. The two men were arrested and the plants uprooted and taken to the local police station, where they are being kept as an exhibit.

When Limpopo Mirror visited the police station, police were busy off-loading the plants from their vehicle into the storeroom. The visibly shocked suspects were paraded at the police camp with their plants. Mavhudzi said their investigation had revealed that the suspects were smuggling the dagga to South African farms along the Limpopo River.

The suspects appeared in court on Monday (16th) and the case was postponed to 30 April. No bail was granted to the two accused.