Police destroy poppy cultivation in Salyan

SALYAN, APR 12: Police have destroyed poppy plantations covering about 3.4 hectares land in Marmaparikada, Chadeka-renji, Siddheswor, and Mulkhola VDCs in Salyan

district.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Bhola Rawat said the opium poppies were grown in remote areas seldom visited by police.

At Seripakha and Gurdase of Marmaparikada VDC, Rawat said, almost all households were involved in poppy cultivation.

All adult males in the villages had already fled when police reached there to destroy the outlawed crop, Rawat added. No arrests were made.

Police have identified two suspects—Thagendra Rawat and Amar Pun—who had lured the villagers into growing poppy on their lands. The duo had been allegedly paying the villagers Rs 51,000 per kilogram of opium poppies.