Police have destroyed poppy plants cultivated in Aathbiskot, Magma, Duli, Godamkot, Syalakhadi, Jang, Syalapakha and Sisne Banfikot of Rukum district.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Angur GC said over 100 officers were mobilised to destroy the poppy farms after reports of people growing the plant for opium production. 

It took two weeks to destroy the poppy plants grown in nearly 40 bighas of land. It is said there are several other villages where poppy farming is still widespread, where the authorities have yet to reach.

The District Police Office started its campaign against poppy farming from last year. But not a single arrest has been made till date.  

DSP GC said the farmers involved in poppy production were being protected by other villagers, who refuse to talk whenever police visit their settlements.

In the last few years, many farmers in remote areas of Rukum have taken to opium farming. They have given up growing staple crops lured by high earnings from poppy farming. 

Every now and then the authorities have been launching campaigns to destroy illegal poppy cultivation, but it is just a matter of time before those sites are abloom again.