Joda/Barbil: Police Thursday destroyed illicit opium cultivation spread over nearly two acres in a remote forest area of Keonjhar district, officials said. The team uprooted and destroyed opium plants, including flowers and mature crops, cultivated across the area. The Forest Department estimated the destroyed crop could have yielded opium worth more than Rs 5 crore. Public concern has grown over how opium cultivation was allowed to flourish over a large forest stretch in the Rolada forest range despite the presence of forest protection staff. Police said this is the first instance of large-scale opium cultivation detected in the district and suspect the involvement of interstate traffickers.