Palakkad: A group of police personnel, which went in search of a suspected ganja plantation, got stranded inside the forest in Kerala's Palakkad district after they lost their way.
The 13-member-team, led by Narcotic Cell DySP Sreenivas, went inside the Malampuzha-Walayar forests here based on a tip-off that a ganja plantation was located deep inside the woods on Friday morning.
However, the officials, by evening, informed their colleagues that they got stuck in the forests as they got lost. Amid heavy rain and unfavourable weather, they spent the night sitting atop a rock.
Based on the information, two groups comprising police and forest personnel ventured into the forest from Walayar and Kava in Malampuzha respectively and brought them back safely on Saturday evening.
The stranded police personnel acknowledged that without the help from forest officials, they would have had to spend another night in the forest.
Meanwhile, the team which went in search of the police officers came face to face with wild elephants at three places during the operation.