Landowners with marijuana plants on their land can get into trouble even if they are not aware, says Commissioner of Police, Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho.
He made the comment while responding to a plea at the Kadavu Provincial Council meeting yesterday.
The plea was from a local man who raised the ongoing issue during the talanoa session with Prime Minister Voreqe at Tavuki Village.
He told village and district representatives that Police had engaged the Drug Act 2004 that stated such consequences.
“Even if you do not know that there are marijuana plants on your land, you will be the one held responsible,” he said.
“There is a section that deals with the property owner and in this case the landowners. We are looking at that.
“It is a new trend now that they do not know who is farming on their land when it is just 10 minutes away from the village and it is planted with cassava, dalo and yaqona.”
Mr Qiliho said the courts were not the place where he wanted to take landowners and hoped that they could work together to overcome the drug issue.
He said landowners must look after their land.
“I’m not threatening them; I want them to work with us. We must work together,” he said.
He said Police had exhausted all avenues that could eradicate drugs on the island.
“We have brought in technology to surveillance the area and even got the church too,” he said.
“Drones alone cannot solve the issue.”
A Police team on the island had uprooted about 40,000 plants in the past week and was awaiting a court order to destroy the haul.
Mr Qiliho together with his team will visit some areas in the upper regions of the island today where the illicit drug is known to be cultivated.
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