DEG, PAOCC destroy P3M ‘MJ’ in Kalinga
A PHILIPPINE National Police Drug Enforcement Group-led (PNP-DEG) marijuana (MJ) eradication drive in the Cordillera region last Sunday resulted in the uprooting and burning of an estimated P3 million worth of fully-grown cannabis plants and seedlings in Tinglayan, Kalinga, PNP-DEG Director Brigadier General Narciso D. Domingo said Tuesday.
In a report to PNP Chief Gen. Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr., the official said the operation in Sitio Whila in Barangay Bugnay in Tinglayan municipality was supported by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the Cordillera Police Regional Office.
Domingo said that two marijuana sites in the area were found by members of the DEG Cordillera Special Operations Unit with the help of the Tinglayan Municipal Police Station (MPS), the Cordillera Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB), and Regional Drug Enforcement Unit, and Regional Intelligence Division.
Uprooted in the two plantation sites were more than 12,000 pieces of fully-grown marijuana plants. The prohibited crops and nearly five kilos of dried cannabis stalks, were burned on-site while some samples were taken for the evidentiary purpose. However, no arrests were made during the operation.
Domingo said PAOCC Executive Director Gilbert DC Cruz and Cordillera police director Brig. Gen. Mafelino A. Bazar has been fully supporting their ongoing effort to locate and destroy all marijuana sites in the region.
The official said they are also spraying “Spitfire” herbicide on raided cannabis plantation areas to prevent the banned weed from growing again. Marijuana remains a major drug of abuse in the country, selling for a minimum of P5,000 a kilo in the underground market.
