Students held for growing cannabis | Rest of the world

Students held for growing cannabis

Two medical students at the University of Pretoria have been arrested for allegedly growing an illegal herbal remedy in an illicit nursery - their cupboard.

The students, based at the university's health science department, and a friend from Tshwane University of Technology, were bust following a tip-off.

When police raided the Olympus residence behind the Pretoria Academic Hospital, they discovered rows of dagga plants being nurtured in the nursery cupboard which had been converted into a hothouse with specially fitted light bulbs and tinfoil linings.

A further search of the dormitory led to the discovery of dagga being dried between clothes, dagga seeds being grown in cooldrink glasses, while outside on a patio more plants were found.

Police spokesperson Inspector Wanda Olivier said officers from the Pretoria dog unit found 20 small dagga plants in the cupboard nursery, with more dagga hanging to dry in the closet.

Twenty-one more cooldrink glasses used to grow marijuana seeds and nine fully-grown dagga plants were discovered on a patio.

While searching the room police also found fertiliser and an instruction manual on how to cultivate and look after dagga plants.

Olivier said the students, aged between 20 and 22, were in the third and fourth years of their studies and would appear in court soon on charges of possession of, and cultivating of cannabis.

The university's Gilbert Mokwatedi said: "The university condemns any form of criminal activity and the alleged incident is against the value-framework that was embraced by the institution. The university does not tolerate any transgression of the law, let alone condone it."

http://www.iol.co.za

Trackback(0)

TrackBack URI for this entry