P11.6-M marijuana destroyed in Kalinga

BAGUIO CITY -- Some P11.6-million worth of marijuana plants was destroyed by anti-narcotic agents in a two-day operation this week in Tinglayan town, Kalinga province, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Cordillera reported. 

PDEA-Cordillera information officer Joseph Frederick Calulut said anti-narcotics agents from the PDEA-Cordillera, local police, and the Philippine Army in Barangays Buscalan and Butbut in Tinglayan, Kalinga jointly implemented the "Oplan Linis Barangay IV" of the PDEA and the Tinglayan Municipal Police Station's "Oplan NON-Buds."

Calulut said the operatives destroyed 33,700 pieces of fully grown marijuana plants worth P6.74 million on the first day of operation on Aug. 29. The illegal grasses were cultivated on eight planting sites, with a total land area of 4,250 square meters in Barangay Buscalan.

The second day led to the destruction of 11,800 pieces of fully grown marijuana and 20,000 grams of marijuana stalks worth P4.86 million.

The weeds were grown on three sites with a total land area of 2,900 square meters in Barangay Butbut.

Calulut said the PDEA-Cordillera named its operation "Oplan Linis Barangay IV," as it was the fourth wave of major marijuana eradication operations in Tinglayan, Kalinga.

He said while there was no cultivator arrested during the two-day operation, government troops are continuously monitoring the area and will not allow the illegal activity of growing the prohibited plant. -- PNA