Imphal/New Delhi:

A Manipur Police team that went to destroy illegal opium cultivation in the hills of Kangpokpi district were stopped by “80-90 armed miscreants” and forced to return without clearing the illegal farms, a police officer said in a first information report (FIR).

The police team had a mix of 25 personnel, and volunteers from the Liangmai Naga tribe and five drivers.

The team carried only three assault rifles as it is a physically demanding and difficult task to destroy poppy farms with farm tools while also carrying AK-type guns, a source who has first-hand information about the incident told NDTV.

“You can’t hold a weapon and also destroy poppy efficiently in such a sensitive area. The authorities should have deployed other forces along with the police,” the source said, requesting anonymity.

The small police team had no choice but to turn back when the armed miscreants tried to snatch the few guns the team had, the source said.

The area was remote and reinforcements would have taken a long time, so a decision was taken to ensure the safety of the joint team, the FIR stated.

While there is no official confirmation, there is a strong buzz in the security establishment in Manipur of a major operation involving central forces to clear new illegal opium poppy farms. The forces will retaliate if any armed miscreant threatens to stop the anti-poppy cultivation drive or fires at them, sources said.

The Kuki tribes in their demand for a separate administration carved out from Manipur often include Kangpokpi district in many unrecognised hand-drawn maps used for social media consumption.

Kangpokpi is also the turf of the insurgent group Kuki National Front (KNF), headed by ST Thangboi Kipgen, and this group is one of the over two dozen Kuki-Zo militant groups that have signed the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) agreement, which the Manipur government has been demanding to be scrapped. The SoO agreement’s last renewal deadline was in February this year.

Civil society groups of the Meitei community have alleged the hand of Kuki insurgent groups in growing illegal opium poppy in areas dominated by them.

The Kangpokpi police chief in a flash message on November 18 ordered officers in charge of Kangpokpi and G Saparmeina police stations to destroy the illegal opium poppy farms in Makhan hill range, police sources told NDTV. The area of operation fell under the jurisdiction of the police in G Saparmeina, some 35 km north of the state capital Imphal.

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“The team further proceeded by foot for about three hours and just before reaching the spot, some unknown armed miscreants numbering around 80-90 people blocked the team. The unknown miscreants were carrying guns, dagger and wooden cubs and threatened to even kill the team members if they proceeded for destroying the illegal poppy plantations,” the incident details in the FIR stated.

“Considering the isolation of the location for reinforcement to reach in time and the number of miscreants with weapons and the safety and security of the life of the [poppy] destruction team, the joint team returned without destroying the illicit poppy plantations at 3 pm,” the FIR stated.

The joint team which also included officers from the forest department and the executive magistrate had started out from G Saparmeina police station at 8.30 am.

The Makhan village authority in a statement said the government should clear the land encroachment by “opium poppy planters” and clear all the illegal cultivation from their area in four days, otherwise things would turn “repulsive and abominable”.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh in an interview to NDTV on November 21 had said the authorities have found five villages in Kangpokpi that have been growing illegal opium poppy, while the security forces were busy monitoring other sensitive areas in the ethnic crisis-hit state, adding the farms would be destroyed in a few days.