Man nabbed in P2.5-M MJ bust

By DexterA. See

TUBLAY, Benguet — A 27-year-old alleged marijuana dealer was arrested by combined police and anti-narcotics operatives for allegedly possessing over P2.5 million worth of dried marijuana bricks during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Daclan, here Monday.

Chief Supt. Villamor Bumanglag, regional police director, identified the suspect as James de Leon Bagtang, 27, resident of Pudong, Kibungan, Benguet.

Investigation showed the suspect was about to transport the processed marijuana bricks to a supposed buyer in La Trinidad, Benguet and Baguio City for the same to be transported to Pampanga and other parts of Region III.

Upon learning of the transport of the illegal hemp from the marijuana-producing areas in the province, the regional anti-illegal drugs special operations task group and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Cordillera immediately created a buy-bust operation team to effect the arrest of the drug trader and the confiscation of the illegal drugs.

Seized from the suspect were dozens of dried marijuana leaves in brick form weighing over 100 kilos which were packed in several sacks loaded in a private vehicle with the same amounting to over P2.5 million.

Bumanglag said the fresh marijuana leaves came from remote plantations in Kibungan and were eventually brought to nearby Kapangan town for its conversion into bricks before being sold to prospective buyers from the lowlands and other parts of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao with Baguio as a transshipment area.

The arrested suspected drug dealer is now detained at the Benguet provincial jail awaiting resolution of the provincial prosecutor’s office on the charges of illegal possession and sale of marijuana which were filed against him.

Because of the continuous destruction of marijuana plants and seizure of marijuana bricks in the different parts of the region, the Cordillera remains to be the major source of marijuana being distributed in the different parts of the country.