Illegal Opium plantation worth ₹1.91 Crore destroyed inside Similipal national park

Authorities have detected and destroyed a large illegal opium plantation deep inside Similipal National Park in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, highlighting growing concerns over the spread of narcotics cultivation into protected forest areas across India.

A joint team of the Odisha Police , excise officials and the forest department uncovered two patches of illicit poppy cultivation spread over 1.09 acres under the jurisdiction of Jashipur police station on Sunday, officials said on Monday. Similipal, a tiger reserve and one of eastern India’s most biodiverse national parks, lies in northern Odisha near the Jharkhand and West Bengal borders.

Officials said a total of 95,850 opium poppy plants , estimated to be worth ₹1.91 crore, were destroyed during the operation. The plantations were located in a remote forest zone largely devoid of human habitation and frequented by tigers and other wild animals, making detection and enforcement particularly challenging.

“The illegal cultivation was carried out deep inside the national park in gross violation of forest conservation and wildlife protection laws,” an official statement said.

Two cases have been registered at Jashipur police station, and investigations are underway to identify those involved and determine how such large-scale cultivation was established within a protected area.

The seizure comes amid a broader crackdown on illegal narcotics production in India, where drug cultivators have increasingly turned to dense forests, hilly terrain and wildlife reserves to evade detection. States including Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and parts of the Northeast have reported a rise in illicit poppy and cannabis cultivation in recent years, often in ecologically sensitive regions.

Enforcement agencies say the trend poses a dual threat fuelling the illegal drug trade while causing significant damage to fragile forest ecosystems and wildlife habitats.