24 poppy fields destroyed in Bandarban

A joint team of Bangladesh Army, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the police destroyed 24 poppy fields in a drive in Panjhiri, Bulupara, and Laikrejhiri areas under Sangu Reserve Forest adjacent to Myanmar border yesterday.

They cut down the poppy plants on around 2.5 acres of land and later burnt those, sources said.

Bandarban Regional Commander of army Brig Gen Naquib Ahmed Chowdhury, Deputy Commissioner Mizanul Haque Chowdhury, Superintendent of Police Devdas Bhattacharya, BGB Bolipara Zone commander Lt Col Kamrul Hasan, DGFI district chief Lt Col Shafiul Imam and NSI Deputy Director Mohamamd Shajahan were present during the incident.

Lt Col Mizanur Rahman, Alikadom Zone commander of the army, led the drive.

“Although border drug syndicates try to engage the indigenous people in poppy farming on their land in remote areas of the district near the border, the cultivation of the harmful plants in the district is rapidly decreasing,” said Brig Gen Naquib Ahmed Chowdhury.

Every year joint forces launch operations to destroy poppy fields, he said.

People living in the borders areas of Bangladesh, Myanmar and India have been cultivating poppy with the support of cross-border syndicates for the past 13 years, as it brings higher profits than other crops grown on their hard-to-reach land, locals said.

The have urged the government to help them find better ways of living so that none gets involved in the cultivation of poppy that is used for producing addictive drugs like opium and heroin.

The army destroyed 59 poppy gardens in the area in 2014.

They distributed vegetable seeds, education materials, and warm clothes among the indigenous people and set up a school for their children near the Myanmar border to discourage poppy cultivation, officials said.