458 acres of illicit cannabis cultivation in Arunachal destroyed NCB

New Delhi, Nov 7 (PTI) Anti-narcotics agencies destroyed about 458 acres of illicit cannabis cultivation in Arunachal Pradesh, the NCB said on Saturday.

    The task was undertaken by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Itanagar office, along with central forces like the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), apart from the Arunachal Pradesh Police.

    The joint agencies cleared approximately 458 acres of illicit cannabis cultivation in the Kalaktang subdivision of the West Kameng district between October 26 and November 3, the NCB said in a statement.

    The teams destroyed over 1.37 lakh kg of cannabis plants grown primarily on community lands, it said.

    The state police and administration conducted a ground survey for the task while the NCB got the satellite imagery of the cultivation sites in the rugged terrain, according to the agency.

    It further said the area cleared of illicit cannabis across Arunachal Pradesh so far in 2026 is more than eight times the full-year figure for 2025.

    The operation is part of the Vision Document on Narcotics Control (2026-2029), which calls for mapping cultivation hotspots and coordinating crop destruction across central, state and district agencies through a whole-of-government approach.

    A similar NCB-led drive recently cleared about 592 acres in the Parvati Valley of Kullu in Himachal Pradesh and about 30 acres in Odisha's Kandhamal.

    The NCB urged the public to report illicit cultivation or drug trafficking on the toll-free MANAS National Narcotics Helpline at 1933.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)