It wasn't legal hemp. Indeed: those marijuana plants had a high level of THC, the principle of the high. There were around 3,300 of them, grown in a one-hectare plot in Arborea , surrounded by land intended for the production of corn. Yesterday the Carabinieri of Cagliari and Arborea, at the end of a meticulous observation period, carried out one of the most significant drug seizures of the year. The narco-cultivator ended up in handcuffs: an eighteen-year-old student.
The operations, coordinated by the Oristano Prosecutor's Office, were conducted with the support of the heliborne squadron of the "Hunters of Sardinia" of Abbasanta and the RIS of Cagliari.
In a first phase it was ruled out that it was fiber hemp, therefore legal. The intervention took place yesterday afternoon: when the soldiers arrived, the young man was tinkering with the irrigation system among plants of a type of marijuana that doesn't grow much, but has a high delta-9-THC content. The intervention was then extended to a shed belonging to the young man's family: here a further 80 kilos of already dried grass were found, as well as fertilizers and pesticides necessary to improve cultivation.
The plantation was sampled according to the guidelines of the Ris of Cagliari which carried out the first analyses. The THC content was found to be 3.33%, well above the maximum permitted community limit of 0.2%.
This morning the plants were cut and reduced to round bales, destined for destruction. Further investigations are underway to identify any other people responsible for the cultivation. The operation constitutes one of the most significant seizures carried out in the regional territory.
The marijuana would have brought in several hundred thousand euros for the producers.
The latest investigations have shown that growers are following a new trend: they favor species with increasingly shorter stems which are characterized by being thicker, with a much higher active ingredient content and less identifiable by the police forces.
