Commercial marijuana farming has been flourishing in various settlements of Saptari district, police say. Large number of people in the district are engaged in small scale marijuana farming.

During the clean-up campaign of illegal marijuana farming, DSP Bhawesh Rimal said police destroyed more than 1,500 marijuana plants at Jhalahi, Pharesth and Bharuwa settlements on Monday.

"Around 200 households have cultivated marijuana plants in the area. Some have even cultivated the plant in their courtyards," said Rimal. Processed marijuana cost around Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000.

The demand for marijuana in the district is so high that traffickers come to the locals' doorsteps to purchase the product. Youths especially have been purchasing this contraband on a regular basis.

To counter this rising demand of marijuana in the district, DSP Rimal said the police are going to launch a special operation against such illegal farming. He said that police had recently destroyed more than 4,000 marijuana plants in Gobargadha Tapu of Hanuman Nagar Kankalini Municipality. Police had also destroyed the plants in several other settlements of Saptari district.

"Police units have been deployed in all the settlements to destroy marijuana plants," said DSP Rimal.