THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) has confirmed that the recent shoot-out in De Velde Village in the Berbice River was drug-related.

Ranks on Friday destroyed a massive marijuana farm with over 25,000 cultivated cannabis plants in the same community during a drug-eradication operation.

Reports are that on Wednesday night, bullets rained in the village in what residents believed to be a horrendous robbery.

However, police said on Saturday, “the alleged shooting incident was not robbery-related, but is linked to an apparent dispute of a drug-related transaction among several alleged cultivators of cannabis sativa.”

Police said a “person of interest” has since been detained and is cooperating with investigators.

Police also confirmed that the drug-eradication operation in the village resulted in the destruction of four acres of cultivated cannabis plants, ranging from one feet to five feet.

They also discovered two camps which had in excess of 100 kilograms of dried cannabis. Police said the marijuana farm and the camps were destroyed by fire.

Investigators are in the process of tracing the ownership of the lands with a view to instituting charges.