P.5 M marijuana seized in bus bound to Bontoc

By Dexter A. See

BONTOC, Mountain Province — Police seized last week 20 kilos of marijuana bricks inside a Bontoc-bound commuter bus at a checkpoint here in Sitio Pangkikan, Tocucan, police said.

Police manning the checkpoint, joined by anti-narcotics agents acting on a tip, found the box containing the marijuana bricks valued at around P500,000.

Police questioned bus conductor, Nathaniel Sam-ang, and his helper, Gavino Puyakaw who said it was loaded into their bus by an unidentified man in Sitio Mamaga, Barangay Saclit, Sadanga, with instructions that someone will pick it up in Bontoc.

However, when narcotics agents hitched on the bus all the way to Bontoc, no one appeared to pick up the box.

In Camp Dangwa, Benguet, Chief Supt. Orlando Pestano, regional police director for Cordillera, said bus owner Ignacio Layusen Agaslong Jr., 29, married, and a resident of Poblacion, Sadanga, Mountain Province, is now under investigation.

The seized illegal hemp was likely to be circulated in local markets in Bontoc.