Gajapati: In a major crack down on the production and supply of illegal cannabis, a joint team of Mohana Police and Excise department destroyed Ganja cultivation worth over Rs17.28 crore by setting the hemp plant on fire spread across several places in the district on Sunday.
Acting on a tip-off, personnel from the Mohana Police and Excise department carried out multiple raids and destroyed the cannabis cultivation at several places.
During the raid, ganja cultivation in more than 86 acres of land at Buduni and Kadamuli areas under Baghamari Panchayat were destroyed. The officials uprooted the fully grown cannabis plants and set those on fire.
A case has been registered in this connection and a probe is on to identify the cultivators of the contraband.
Excise officials said that the raids will continue in regular intervals in the coming days.
Earlier on November 15, a joint team of the Kandhamal police and Excise department officials had destroyed ganja cultivation on acres of lands in different forest areas in Kandhamal.
The police and excise sleuths had conducted crackdown in Kudutuli, Jampadar, Janagual areas under K Nuagaon police station and destroyed the cultivation on 170 acres of land by setting the hemp plants on fire.The cost of the cannabis was worth around Rs 1.5 crore.
On a day before, ganja worth around Rs 20 lakh was seized in Chitrakonda while it was being transported to a neighbouring state. The seizure came a day after over 12 quintals of ganja worth over Rs 1.30 crore was seized at two separate places in the Koraput district.
(Edited by Rashmi Ranjan Mohanty)