Palakkad (Keralam) | Excise officials destroyed 1,566 fully grown cannabis plants found in six plantations deep inside a forest in Attappadi here on Saturday, officials said.

Acting on a tip-off about large-scale cannabis cultivation around four km inside the forest near Kadugumanna in Attappadi, an Excise team set out for the area on Saturday morning.

Attappadi is a major tribal belt in Palakkad district.

The officials trekked through the dense forest, where they faced the possibility of encountering wild animals, before reaching the plantations, they said.

The team found six separate plantations containing 1,566 mature cannabis plants that were ready for harvesting, officials said.

After collecting samples, the officials cut down and destroyed the plants by burning them before returning from the forest, they said.

The Excise department has launched an investigation to identify those behind the large-scale cultivation in the forest area of Attappadi near the Tamil Nadu border.

Officials said the identity of those cultivating the plants was yet to be established as the plantations were located deep inside the forest and there were no houses nearby.

The Kadugumanna tribal settlement is around four km from the plantations, and only a few people live there, officials said.

The investigation will continue to identify the cultivators and determine who was behind the illegal cultivation, they said.