Imphal, Dec 31: Security forces on December 30 destroyed 40 acres of illicit poppy cultivation in the Mongken area of the Thangjing hill range under Henglep Sub-Division in Manipur’s Churachandpur district.
The operation was carried out by a joint team of Manipur Police, the Forest Department and the Central Reserve Police Force, in the presence of an Executive Magistrate. Officials said six poppy pods were seized during the drive.
The action followed a similar operation a day earlier in the hill ranges of Langkhong (Saisijang) in Kangpokpi district, where 35 acres of poppy plantations were destroyed. That raid targeted one of the largest illegal cultivation sites detected in the region this year.
During the Kangpokpi operation, security forces demolished 12 makeshift huts allegedly used by cultivators and destroyed materials sustaining the activity. Authorities confiscated and burnt fertilisers, herbicides and salt, besides seizing and destroying cultivation equipment such as spray pumps and irrigation pipes.
No arrests were made in either operation, as the cultivators had reportedly fled before the raids. Officials said investigations are underway to identify those responsible, while surveillance has been intensified to prevent the re-emergence of poppy cultivation in the hill areas.
