Pat Ja San reports being ambushed on poppy mission
Dozens of Kachin anti-narcotics campaigners were injured after a poppy eradication campaign was met with gunfire and grenades on 25 February.
After a week-long stand-off, Pat Ja San reached an agreement with Kachin State authorities to re-launch the eradication mission, despite protests of angry poppy farmers who are just weeks away from harvest season. On 24 February, six groups started clearing fields in Sadon and Kan Pai Tee, aiming to uproot as much as 20,000 acres of poppy. However, on 25 February the Kachin vigilantes encountered an ethnic armed group defending the crops.
