In a continued crackdown against illegal poppy cultivation, the District Anti-Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) on Friday carried out a poppy destruction drive at Ngatan Hill Range under Senapati Police Station and adjoining areas of Kangpokpi district. The operation was initiated by the Senapati District ANTF and conducted under the supervision of the Additional Superintendent of Police (NH-2), who is also the Nodal Officer of ANTF, and under the overall supervision of the Superintendent of Police, Senapati. The combined team was led by the SDPO–SPT and comprised of personnel from Senapati Police Station, Kangpokpi Police Station, companies of CRPF (B-109, F-36, C-142, G-112), 16 Assam Rifles, and an Executive Magistrate. Officials from the Senapati Forest Division also extended drone support for aerial reconnaissance during the operation. During the drive, approximately six acres of illicit poppy cultivation were destroyed. Eight makeshift huts set up at the site were burnt down. Security personnel also destroyed three bags of fertilizers, 15 bags of salt, four bundles of irrigation pipes, and four spray pumps recovered from the fields. One individual, identified as Gun Bahadur Rai (59), son of Dip Bahadur Rai and a resident of Thulochour/Tapon Village, Irang Part II under T. Waichong, was apprehended from the site. Further legal proceedings are underway.
Poppy Cultivation Destroyed, One Arrested
