KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, March 7: A team of police and paramilitary forces today destroyed an opium poppy plantation at a remote area of Kowali thana area in East Singhbhum district.
Spread over a land of about seven acres, the poppy plantation was being done at Raghabdih village under Chakri panchayat area in Kowali, about 35 kms away from the heart of the city.
Acting on a tip-off, the police from Kowali and adjoining Potka thana supported by the paramilitary CRPF destroyed the grown-up poppy plantation in a four-hour-long operation.
Though the police succeeded in eliminating the plantation, they failed to arrest anyone’s in connection to the illegal poppy cultivation. The police are also not aware whether the land poppy plantation was being carried on was raiyat land or belongs to the forest department.
OC, Potka thana, Rabindra Munda who had also participated in the drive said that they are trying to determine the nature of land the plantation was grown.
“If the land in question is raiyat then we will find out the owner of the land and arrest him. But if it is forest land, then we will trace out the elements involved in the illegal activity and arrest them, ” said Munda.
The Potka thana OC said that the illegal poppy plantation must have been done at the behest of Naxals who have a considerable influence in the area.
Significantly, this was for the first time that the poppy plantation was destroyed in the East Singhbhum district. Earlier, such plantation was destroyed in adjoining and the West Singhbhum district.
The opium poppy flower which provides a base for opium and dangerous drugs like brown sugar offers a better price in comparison to the traditional paddy crops.
