The uprooted marijuana plants that weigh around 25.5kg. These plants were being grown in two greenhouses in Lâm Đồng Province’s Đà Lạt City. – VNA/VNS Photo |
LÂM ĐỒNG — Police in the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng have found two households in Đà Lạt City growing nine marijuana plants that collectively weigh around 25.5kg.
Lieutenant Colonel Trịnh Đình Long, deputy head of the city’s Drug Crime Investigation Police Department, said on Wednesday they conducted a raid on two flower garden greenhouses in Thái Phiên Flower Village in Ward 12 and found nine marijuana plants being grown between the flowers. Each plant was between 70cm and two metres high and 15cm in diameter. The police seized all the plants.
Lê Thành Diệu and Lê Thanh Tùng, owners of the two greenhouses, claimed that they started growing these plants four months ago to prevent mosquitoes and to use as chicken feed.
Marijuana and other narcotic plants are banned in Việt Nam. Under the country’s Penal Code, those who grow marijuana shall be sentenced to jail for between six months and seven years, depending on the violation. Offenders would also be fined between VNĐ1-15 million (US$44-660). — VNS