NEW DELHI: Besides extortion bounty, Maoists are promoting poppy cultivation in the Naxal-infested districts to fund their activities. The booming drug business is said to have crossed Rs 400 crore a year.
“It is a fact that the CPI (Maoist) tacitly allows poppy, ganja cultivation in order to collect money for their activities. The outfit is collecting money from illegal cultivation of ganja and opium in some areas of Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar,” said Minister of State for Home Affairs Jitendra Singh in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
However, the minister said that there was no information available to indicate that the Naxalites have directly entered into poppy farming in an organised manner.
Though the minister did not give much details about the crops and approximate amount of money earned by ultras through drug dealings, sources in the states said that at least 4-5 districts in Jharkhand are hubs of poppy cultivation.
“The CID and Narcotics Control Bureau have destroyed 100 acres of poppy cultivation in the two districts alone. Maoists pay hefty shares to the farmers who indulge in poppy and ganja cultivation,” sources said.
Anurag Gupta, IG, Organised Crime, Jharkhand told Express, “The poppy cultivation was started by Maoists in 2008 in the state and till 2012 the state
government has registered about 100 cases against farmers.”
“The problem is, we have not been able to catch any big fish of this entire illegal chain. Farmers are forced by Naxals to cultivate and sell it to some dealers based in Uttar Pradesh. We have found some trail, but it was a dead end before we could crack it,” Gupta said.
Sources told Express that most of the dealers contact these farmers through middlemen in Latehar and Chatra districts.
They assume fake identity and frequently change their mobile phone numbers. Jharkhand Crime Investigation Department, with the active support of Narcotics Control Bureau, has tried to track dealers, but SIM cards were procured by providing fake identity cards.
“With the help of imagery received through Intelligence wing, more than 50 acres of poppy crop were destroyed recently,” Richard Lakra, police spokesperson and AIG (headquarters), said.
In Odisha, most of the poppy cultivation is in Bargarh and Malkangiri areas.
Maoists are not only providing protection to the farmers but also paying approximately Rs 50, 000 per acre to the willing farmers.
According to the sources, the Narcotics Control Bureau, with the support of states, has destroyed 14,365 acres of poppy crop in Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal in 2011.
