KHAAR, Nov 23: The political administration of the Bajaur Agency has arrested 25 people on the charge of cultivating poppy during a crackdown on growers of the banned crop, a senior official said here on Tuesday.

The political authorities after receiving information about the cultivation of poppy crop in some remote mountainous areas of the Bajaur agency, launched the operation and had so far arrested 25 growers, said Political Agent Peerzada Khan.

All the arrested persons had been sent to the Haripur Central Jail, he added. The Bajaur Levies and Khasadar forces had been sent to different areas of the agency situated along the border with Afghanistan where they had been holding talks with tribal elders to persuade them to take a strong action against poppy cultivators, he said.

The political administration had established a monitoring camp to gather information about the banned crop and its conversion into opiates, Mr Peerzada added. He warned poppy cultivators that the administration would not allow anyone to defy the government writ.