In what was described as a "normal sweeping operation" Anti-Drug Police on Tuesday December 2,  found and uprooted in excess of 60 mature cannabis plants.

The officers of the specialist police arm raided a property in the Val D'Endorre area of Baie Lazare, in an action which the Police Public Relations Officer Jean Toussaint said was part of a series of random searches.

Arrested on the scene were a 23-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman, both of whom worked the area of land on which the drugs were discovered.

Both suspects are being detained at the Central Police Station, while the plants are being preserved as an exhibit pending a trial.

Speaking at the scene of the find Mr Toussaint said that the uppermost penalty for the offence committed was a fine of up to SR500,000 or a maximum 30-year prison term.

He went on to say that the police often receive help from the public in the form of tip offs for such operations.

The drugs were being grown on two sites, some thirty metres apart, the smaller of the two well hidden by tall grass, with the other larger plantation obscured by large trees and bushes.

The find follows a recent police action on Praslin in which similar plantations were discovered.

Late last month officers of Praslin's Anti-Drugs unit uprooted two plantations found on government property in the island's hills.

No arrests were made at either site, at which a combined total of over 150 mature plants were discovered.

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