ROSTOV-ON-DON, October 14 (RIA Novosti) – The captain of a Russian service vessel has been detained for supplying sailors and port staff with cannabis grown in a hot-house his wife claimed was for tomatoes, local drug police said Monday.
The man, whose ship services vessels in the international port of Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, was detained as he boarded his vessel in the morning, a drug police spokeswoman told RIA Novosti.
A number of sailors and port staff, thought to be regular clients, had already lined up nearby. Three were detained, the spokeswoman said.
Some 2 kilograms of cannabis were found in containers on board his ship, and another 50 kilograms in his house.
Outside in the yard authorities found a hothouse full of cannabis plants. The captain’s wife said it was for tomatoes and that cannabis grew there “by accident.”
However, there was only one row of tomato plants in the hothouse, the spokeswoman said.
The man, who was not named, was arrested.
He and his wife face up to 20 years in prison on illegal drug production and drug dealing charges, drug police said on their website.
