A north central Kansas man has been indicted on charges of growing poppy plants in an effort to manufacture heroin.

Charges were filed in federal court in Topeka against 43-year-old Matthew Pfeiffer of Morganville.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Riley County Police Department received information that Pfeiffer was growing poppies, and a search warrant was served at his home in June.   Officers seized more than 4,000 poppy plants, identified as Papaver somniferum, a plant from which opium is derived.

U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a press release that opium poppies are an unfamiliar sight in Kansas, “and we want to keep it that way.”  The DEA reports the cultivation of poppy plants for the purpose of making opium is extremely rare in the U.S.

If convicted, Pfeiffer could face up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million on a charge of attempting to manufacture controlled substances.