298,500 cannabis plants destroyed on 149 acres in Tripura's Sepahijala
About 298,500 cannabis plants spread over 149.25 acres (60.4 hectares) of forest land in Tripura's Sepahijala district were destroyed on 16 December 2023, one of the biggest clearances of cannabis cultivation in the state up to then. The drive was part of the state's war on drugs, carried out with police, paramilitary and forest officials.
🇮🇳 Sepahijala district, Tripura · India
- Plants destroyed
- 298,500
- Hectares
- 60.4
About 298,500 cannabis plants spread over 149.25 acres (60.4 hectares) of forest
land in Sepahijala district, Tripura, were destroyed on Saturday 16 December
2023.[1] It was one of the biggest destructions of cannabis cultivation
recorded in the state up to then.[1]
The drives bring together Tripura Police, the Border Security Force, the Central
Reserve Police Force, the Narcotics Control Bureau and forest department
officials.[1] In October 2023 Chief Minister Manik Saha urged the state’s
youth to declare a war on drugs, saying it had already taken a serious toll
among students and young people.[1]
Several hectares of forest land in the state have been freed from cannabis
cultivation in the past few days.[1] The operations have shown that forest
land in the state was being used for marijuana cultivation.[1] Separate
operations were carried out at various locations in the state as part of the
ongoing effort to wipe out the drugs menace.[1]
Sources
- Tripura's War on Drugs: Marijuana cultivation in forest lands destroyed. Northeast Live, 17 December 2023.
Open questions the AI reported
- The 16 December date follows the 17 December 2023 publication, which says the destruction was done "yesterday (Saturday)".
- No site inside Sepahijala district is named, so the coordinates are for the district and the precision is district.
- The account names no suspects and reports no arrests; whether anyone was detained or charged over the plantation is unknown.
- Only one opened source reports this drive, so its figures (298,500 plants, 149.25 acres) are not corroborated by a second outlet.
- Further drives that week in Sepahijala, West Tripura and South Tripura are separate events and are not counted here.