Palakkad (Kerala) |The Kerala police on Wednesday said they have destroyed what is believed to be the state's largest illegal cannabis plantation, hidden deep inside a forest in the Attappady region of this north Kerala district.

Officers from the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the district anti-narcotics unit and Pudur Police joined forces for the operation, trekking nearly five hours through dense forest to reach the site at the foothills of Sathyakkallumala, they said.

The teams found around 10,000 cannabis plants, each about three months old, spread across roughly 60 cents of land.

The plants were uprooted and destroyed on the spot.

Police said the raid followed information received by Kerala ATS DIG Putta Vimaladitya IPS about large-scale commercial ganja cultivation in the tribal belt of Attappady.

He alerted Palakkad district police chief Ajith Kumar IPS, who coordinated the operation.

"This was one of the biggest ganja cultivation raids ever conducted by Kerala Police," an officer said, adding that an investigation is underway to trace those behind the plantation and their possible links to illegal trade networks.