Joda/Barbil: Police Thursday destroyed illicit opium cultivation spread over nearly two acres in a remote forest area of Keonjhar district, officials said.
Acting on specific intelligence inputs, a police team raided an abandoned and inaccessible forest patch in the Sunanadi river basin under Roida panchayat of Joda block, within Barbil police station limits. The team uprooted and destroyed opium plants, including flowers and mature crops, cultivated across the area.
No arrests were made during the operation, and an investigation is underway, police said.
According to officials, Keonjhar Superintendent of Police Nitin Kushalkar received confidential information about the illegal cultivation. Acting on his directions, the raid was led by Barbil Sub-Divisional Police Officer Devendranath Pingua, along with Barbil Inspector-In-Charge Ashok Kumar Nayak and other police personnel. The operation began around 9 am.
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The Forest Department estimated the destroyed crop could have yielded opium worth more than Rs 5 crore. Officials said opium is processed to extract morphine, which is further refined to manufacture heroin, a highly addictive narcotic.
Barbil Additional Tehsildar Santosh Kumar Kar and Jonson Kindu were present on magistrate duty during the destruction of the crop.
Residents, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several Hindi-speaking youths from outside the area had been frequenting the site to tend to the crop. They added that favourable cold weather this season had accelerated plant growth and that harvesting was expected in March.
Public concern has grown over how opium cultivation was allowed to flourish over a large forest stretch in the Rolada forest range despite the presence of forest protection staff. The area, surrounded by mining operations, is regularly visited by officials from various government departments, including mining, forestry, and others.
Residents alleged the cultivation was carried out in an organised manner, raising questions about possible institutional lapses. Police said this is the first instance of large-scale opium cultivation detected in the district and suspect the involvement of interstate traffickers.
Citing the sensitivity of the investigation, Pingua declined to share further details.