Nashik: The Shirpur taluka police of Dhule district confiscated 330kg of ganja plants from forest land on Saturday, worth Rs82.5 lakh, which was being cultivated by a farmer in the crop of cotton.
Many times, the police have to walk through the jungles due to the absence of a motorable road.
The police said that Shirpur taluka has vast areas of forest land under its jurisdiction, and the police station’s jurisdiction also shares a boundary with Madhya Pradesh. The police said that they were also planning to use drones to keep a check on ganja plantation in the forest areas. The police have arrested the farmer, after they received information about the cultivation of ganja plants in a remote forest area, while one of his associates managed to escape from the scene. During the operation, the police plucked all the ganja plants spread over two to three acres. Some people from the adjoining state also cross over into Shirpur taluka for ganja plantation and then return to their state. Thus, the police have to continuously work on intelligence gathering to get information about clandestine ganja plantation by the people there. A case has been registered against the farmer and his associate, under a section of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Senior officials of the Shirpur taluka police station raided the concerned village, under the guidance of senior officials on Sunday afternoon.