By Julius Alabi, Akure
The joint task force of the Ondo State Ministry of Natural Resources has arrested four Indian hemp planters at the Akure Forest Reserve.
The encroachers were arrested while preparing parts of the forest for the cultivation of the cannabis, destroying economic trees and other forest resources.
The Director of the Joint Task Force in the Ministry, Alhaji Moshood Obadun said they were arrested following a tipoff.
Speaking on the development, the state commissioner for Natural resources, Mr Idowu Otetubi said no encroachers in government forest reserves across the state would be spared.
While noting that the encroachers acted in defiance to a government directive to all illegal occupants to vacate it’s forest reserves across the state, the commissioner said those arrested would be charged to court.
Mr Otetubi maintained that there are rules of engagement in carrying out any activity in the forest reserves, stressing that anyone who runs foul of such rules would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
