Marijuana plantation destroyed in Ifugao

LAGAWE, Ifugao – At least P1.5 million worth of marijuana plants and seedlings were destroyed by combined police operatives and anti-narcotics agents during an anti-insurgency operation in Sitio Lana, Barangay Luhong, Tinoc town, this province on July 2.

Security forces, composed of elements from the Cordillera Regional Public Safety Management Battalion led by Insp. Cesar Sab-it, Tinoc police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Cordillera, carried out destruction of the marijuana plantation.

Supt. Leon Tallo, regional police public information officer, said government forces destroyed over 6,500 fully-grown marijuana plants and over 6,500 marijuana seedlings in the remote sitio.

Tallo said marijuana valued at P1.5 million was destroyed.

The troops chanced upon the marijuana plants reportedly intercropped with vegetables in a secluded place.

Samples of the seedlings and fully-grown plants were extracted from the ground as evidence, Tallo said.

The tri-boundaries of Benguet, Ifugao and Mountain province; Benguet, La Union and Ilocos Sur; Mountain Province, Ifugao and Kalinga; and Mountain province, Abra and Ilocos Sur have long been identified as marijuana-producing areas. – Dexter A. See