Tripura Police destroyed more than 20,000 illegally cultivated cannabis plants in the protected Neramura forest in Sepahijala district on 12 November 2026.[1][2] The operation was led by Jatrapur police station officer-in-charge Parthanath Bhowmik.[2] A team from Jatrapur police station, supported by Tripura State Rifles personnel, cut the plants on forest department land across six to seven plots between the Jatrapur and Melaghar police station areas.[3][4] The team trekked eight to nine kilometres through hilly terrain, and the growers stayed away.[4][2] Bhowmik said the anti-cannabis and other anti-drug drives in the police station area would continue.[2] No one was arrested.[5] Syandan Patrika reported that the cultivation had gone on for a long time while the growers managed the police.[6]

In a separate operation the same day, Sonamura police and the 81st Battalion of the Border Security Force searched Batadola forest land and found 355.5 kg of dried ganja in abandoned packets.[7] Police treated the haul as unclaimed and confiscated it after legal formalities.[1] Police estimated its market value at Rs 1,77,75,000, about Rs 1.77 crore.[8] Sonamura police station officer in charge Inspector Tapas Das said police had begun an investigation to establish who owned the ganja.[7] The recovery was made under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.[5]

The two operations were announced together as part of the district’s anti-narcotics drive.[3] Borok Times reported that the destruction formed part of the state’s continuing efforts against illegal cultivation and trafficking.[9] Syandan Patrika reported that police have arrested no one while seizing ganja and other drugs in recent months, and said the question was being discussed across Sonamura.[6]