The war on drugs costs the state a lot of money and resources and Police officers devote a lot of time in catching offenders.

These comments were made by Labasa High Court Judge Justice Salesi Temo while sentencing a 37- year- old father of five to ten-years imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years for cultivating illicit drugs namely marijuana weighing 369 kilograms in Cakaoudrove in the Northern division.

Anare Yabakidrau was charged with one count of unlawful possession of illicit drugs and one count of unlawful cultivation of illicit drugs.

He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for the first count while a trial date was set up for the second count.

Yabakidrau pleaded guilty to the second count last week.

Justice Temo noted that on the day of his arrest in 2018, Yabakidrau assisted police in locating the farm and voluntary admitted to cultivating marijuana.

He also voluntarily loaded the plants into a police vehicle and traveled with them to the Savusavu Police station.

Justice Temo said that he fully cooperated with police which has never been seen in a case as big as his.

The High court Judge also ordered the drugs to be destroyed by the Chief Registrar’s office with the assistance of police.