Police in Leiyang, Hunan, arrested six people after finding 31 cannabis plants in a grow tent in a rented flat, in what the Leiyang public security bureau called the city’s first case of illegal cannabis cultivation.[1] The plants stood in 14 pots inside a blue-cloth tent in the bedroom, under halogen lamps, with thermometers and humidity meters.[1]
The case began at about 7 pm on 11 June 2017, when officers from the Caizichi police station stopped a man surnamed Liang near the gate of Lingxiu Jiayuan on Detailong Road; police said he had a drug record and admitted using drugs.[2] He told them his girlfriend, surnamed Wu and a minor, might be involved in drug use and dealing.[1] At about 10 pm officers detained Wu and another suspect, Liang Moucong, seizing 39.44 grams of methamphetamine, known in China as ice, and 2.2 grams of magu, a methamphetamine pill, from Liang Moucong.[1] They then searched the flat he rented and found the tent.[1]
On the night of 12 June, police arrested three more drug users, Wen, Jiang and He.[2] The three were placed in administrative detention.[2] Liang and Liang Moucong were sent to compulsory isolated drug rehabilitation.[1] Police said Liang Moucong had used drugs since 2012 and had been caught several times; after his release he bought cannabis seeds online and built an indoor greenhouse to grow cannabis for his own use.[1] The case was still under investigation.[1]