A former police officer from Edinet district was sentenced to four years in jail for cultivating hemp. The sentence was passed by the Supreme Court of Justice, IPN reports.

According to a communiqué from the Prosecutor General’s Office, in June 2012 the police identified 18,000 hemp plants growing on an area of over 3 hectares. It was later established that the land belonged to a former employee of the Ministry of the Interior.

n April 2013, the man was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment by the first court. After his lawyer appealed the decision, the Balti Appeals Court put the man on probation. The prosecutors challenged this judgment and the Supreme Court of Justice upheld the decision of the first court.

The decision of the Supreme Court of Justice is irrevocable.