The plants are long dead but the legal wrangle over them remains alive. Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) have missed an attorneys’ deadline to return 337 cannabis plants and 4kg of dried cannabis seized from the Thetsane residence of Israeli cannabis farmer Tom Srugo (pictured here) in 2024.
Srugo’s attorneys say police have now defied two court orders to return the consignment in a dispute that began when Strugo was arrested and charged for possession of the cannabis which was seized from his licensed grow op. The charges against him were subsequently dropped, but LMPS never returned the cannabis.
Srugo’s lawyers, Adams Attorneys, state that the Maseru High Court issued orders for the release of the cannabis on 2 December 2024 after his arrest, and on 2 June 2026, when charges against him were dropped.
They received no response, so wrote to Police Commissioner Advocate Borotho Matsoso on 23 September 2026 wrote demanding the LMPS return the cannabis within 30 days. But by Sunday 25 October 2026 the LMPS had not complied, according to a Lesotho Sunday Express report on on 23 October 2026..
Meanwhile, Magistrate Puseletso Mcpherson has urged the Ministry of Health to reconsider its decision to withhold the renewal of Srugo’s ARCANA Seeds’ cannabis trading licence pending the finalisation of criminal proceedings involving Srugo.
In a letter dated 6 July 2026 to Health Ministry Principal Secretary Matšoanelo Monyobi, Mcpherson argued for the lifting of the suspension, citing that several of the criminal cases involved had either been withdrawn or concluded.
She wrote: “It is further prudent for you to consider that sanctioning of a person’s right to trade be determined only upon his committal or conviction as the case may be.”
She said her statement was in response to proceedings from 6 July 2026 when Srugo’s lawyersinformed the court that the ministry had suspended the renewal of ARCANA Seeds’ licence pending the finalisation of that case and three other criminal matters.
This is not the first time LMPS have unlawfully retained a large cannabis consignment. Earlier this year Leribe-based Banel got its own back after filing a high court order to force the police to release a 500kg cannabis consignment valued at 1.2-million Maloti (1 LM = 1 ZAR) the cops had seized on arrival from Thailand in February 2026.
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