Last June, they had set up a large cultivation in the Oristano countryside with around 20,000 hemp plants, but with THC far higher than the 0.6% required by law 242/2016 (which authorizes the cultivation of marijuana under this threshold). Yet they claimed to be in compliance with the rules, through invalid documents. For this reason, the Police reported three growers aged 32, 40 and 51, by order of the police commissioner of Oristano . This is the result of investigations that began a few months ago, which are now coming to a conclusion: the value of the seized plants is almost one million euros.

The cultivation, which extends over several hectares, has been frequently monitored by the agents of the Flying Squad since last July. The activity carried out has allowed them to identify all the places where the growers transported the plants and stored them for drying, to then proceed with an initial processing. The investigations involved several municipalities in Sardinia: first and foremost Oristano and Siamaggiore, but also Bottidda and Orani among others . These are the places where the suspects had rented the premises and where, when the green light for the seizure arrived, thousands of plants were recovered.

The production, according to the documentation provided by the growers, was destined for an English company . Investigations were carried out on it which allowed it to be verified that it did not have the necessary authorisations to be able to work with marijuana, thus contravening one of the main provisions of the law which since 2016 has allowed the cultivation of hemp sativa.

This, together with several fictitious contracts (created specifically to be able to move the plants around Sardinia to the various storage locations, evading the controls of the Police), led to the referral of the three growers and a seizure order that will lead to the destruction of all the plants and the product obtained from them .

(Unioneonline/r.sp.)