Arunachal Tops in Opium Cultivation

New Delhi, May 11 : Arunachal Pradesh has emerged on the top among the illegal opium poppy producers in the country, ringing alarm bells among security agencies given its proximity with Myanmar and other nations notorious for cultivation of the contraband.

It is learnt that the state, which has geographic closeness with the “golden triangle” of Myanmar, Lao PDR and Thailand, infamous for opium and heroin production and trafficking, is being used by the international mafia, who are indulging in the illegal trade in the state where the climate is favourable for poppy cultivation, said a news agency quoting a report submitted to the Union home ministry.

“In 2012 we destroyed less than 400 acres of poppy in Arunachal, which jumped to 1,222 acres and 1,067 acres, respectively, in the next two years. The government is serious over the development,” NCB deputy director general (operations) Deb Jyoti Ray told the news agency.

Of the total 2,530 acres of poppy crop destroyed across the country by Narcotics Control Bureau during 2014-15, the sparsely populated state with a population of just 13.82 lakh, as per official figures, accounted for nearly 40 per cent with 1,067 acres. During 2013-14, of around the same acreage of poppy destroyed by NCB, 1,222 acres were in Arunachal Pradesh.