Imphal, Nov. 15: Enforcement agencies in Manipur are in a tizzy over the discovery of poppy fields in some areas along the Indo-Myanmar border.

An official of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)?s Imphal branch said poppy plantations spread over large tracts of land were detected recently in New Somtal, Molcham and Zoupi villages of Chandel district, bordering Myanmar, during a routine survey.

?Ganja is extensively cultivated in the interiors of the state, but it is for the first time that poppy cultivation has been detected in Manipur. In the Northeast, only Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh was hitherto known to have poppy plantations. The new discovery is a source of worry.? the officials said.

The presence of several heroin-producing factories in the jungles of Myanmar has added to the worries of enforcement agencies. The NCB could not confirm whether poppy cultivated in Manipur was being processed as heroin in these factories, but did not rule out the possibility.

?There is no heroin-processing unit in the state. The poppy cultivated here is possibly smuggled out through the border, but we are not sure,? the official said.

The NCB team that surveyed the border areas took photographs of the poppy plantations and forwarded these to the authorities.

The issue of cross-border narcotics smuggling is routinely discussed by Indian and Myanmarese officials during monthly meetings either in the Manipur township of Moreh or Tamu in Myanmar.

Heroin produced in the Golden Triangle ? comprising parts of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand ? is smuggled to Manipur through Moreh and New Somtal in Chandel and Konkan Thana in Ukhrul district. The drug consignments are routed to other parts of the country and Bangladesh and Nepal through the state. Drug couriers are often apprehended, but the kingpins continue to evade arrest.

The Imphal branch of the NCB seized as much as 4,260 kg of ganja, worth Rs 1.06 crore in the international market, in Senapati district earlier this month. ?It was the biggest ganja haul in Manipur, indicating that the trade is growing in the state.