Tripura recorded its largest single-day crackdown on illegal cannabis cultivation after security forces destroyed around 19 lakh premature ganja plants in Sepahijala district, police said on Sunday. The plants, spread across forest land, were estimated to be worth nearly Rs 100 crore in the illicit market.
The massive operation was carried out on Saturday through a coordinated effort involving the Tripura Police, Border Security Force (BSF) and Tripura State Rifles (TSR). Acting on specific intelligence inputs, nearly 600 personnel were deployed to conduct the day-long drive across approximately 650 acres of forest terrain in the North Kalamchoura, South Kalamchoura, Anandapur and Ghatigarh areas.
Additional Superintendent of Police Rajib Sutradhar said the operation marked the highest-ever destruction of ganja plants in a single day in the state. He added that law enforcement agencies have increasingly relied on drone surveillance to detect illegal cannabis cultivation in remote and densely forested regions before launching ground operations. “About 19 lakh premature ganja plants worth around Rs 100 crore were destroyed. Such anti-cannabis drives will continue in the coming days,” he said.
Sonamura police station officer-in-charge Tapan Das said preliminary findings suggested that local residents were cultivating ganja on encroached forest land. However, no arrests have been made so far in connection with the operation. Officials noted that the scale of cultivation uncovered during the drive was unprecedented for Tripura.
Police sources said ganja harvested from such plantations is often processed and smuggled to other states, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where it commands higher prices. Authorities have reiterated their commitment to intensifying similar large-scale operations across identified vulnerable pockets as part of the state’s ongoing campaign against narcotics cultivation and trafficking.
