BALANGIR: A joint team of Excise and forest officials along with Bonai police destroyed about 4,700 opium plants illegally grown over 31-acre government land at Kiri, an inaccessible forested village located on a hilltop under remote Mohulpada police limits of Lahunipada block in Bonai sub-division of Sundargarh district.
Sources said acting on a tip-off, the Excise officials led by Rourkela-based superintendent Sheikh Asaf Ali along with police and forest officials walked 10 km to the spot through hostile terrains. They found opium cultivation on government land atop the hill which houses a small village with a few scattered tribal households. They also learnt the cultivation was done by some people from Jharkhand.
During the raid, they saw opium plants already destroyed in the recent hailstorm. Ali said they destroyed about 4,700 remaining standing opium plants in production. “From circumstances, it appeared those behind the illegal farming had not been able to harvest much of the produce,” the Excise superintendent added.
“Those behind the illegal cultivation chose the spot carefully as the location is close to forested borders of Keonjhar and Angul districts,” Ali said. Prior to the raids, the plants grown over around 1.70 acre were cut and taken away.