AGARTALA: A team of Tripura security personnel returning after an operation to destroy 60,000 cannabis plants were attacked with bricks and stones by two groups of people in West Tripura district on Thursday evening, police said.

The incident took place in Panchabati area of Sidhai Mohanpur village in West Tripura district.

Five personnel of the Tripura police and the Tripura State Rifles sustained injuries in the attacks. The injured police personnel were treated for their injuries and discharged from the hospital, an officer at police headquarters in state capital Agartala said.

A case has been registered and a probe started to identify the attackers, the officer added.

Officials said the team had parked their vehicles at some distance from the cannabis farm in Panchabati. When they were returning after destroying the plants, a group of people attacked them with stones. A second set of people vandalised the police vehicles.

A police officer said TSR personnel used mild force to disperse the villagers.

According to official records, the authorities have destroyed nearly 2.8 million cannabis plants this year as part of Tripura’s continuing crackdown on drugs in the state