AGENTS of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PNP DEG) on Wednesday led a major marijuana eradication drive in Tinglayan, Kalinga which led to the uprooting and destruction of nearly P85 million worth of fully-grown cannabis crops and seedlings, PNP-DEG director, Brigadier General Narciso D. Domingo said.

“This is part of our continuing all-out effort to identify and destroy all secret marijuana plantations in the country as ordered by PNP chief, General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. to prevent the possibility they would be smuggled to Metro Manila and other urban parts of the country,” said the official.

Domingo said that thru their Coplan Summit, members of the PNP-DEG Cordillera and Region 1 Special Operations Unit, with the support of officers from the Tinglayan Municpal Police Station, Mountain Province and Kalinga Police Provincial Offices, Cordillera Regional Mobile Group, PNP Special Action Force and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency at around 6 a.m. Wednesday stormed a big marijuana production site in Sitio Balay in Barangay Tulgao West in Tinglayan municipality.

Troops uprooted an estimated 150,000 pieces of fully-grown marijuana plants worth around P30 million which were all burned on site, the PNP-DEG director said.

Another PNP-DEG-led operation under its Coplan Demeter saw officers uprooting marijuana crops planted in five separate cultivation sites in Bgy. Ngibat, also in Tinglayan, Kalinga on Thursday.

Domingo said nearly 300,000 pieces of fully-grown marijuana plants were uprooted in five sites in Bgy. Ngibat which was estimated to be around 26,650 square meters.

The official added that the prohibited crops were doused with petrol and set on fire by the troops at the end of the operation. However, some samples were collected for evidentiary purpose.

No arrests were made during those operations, the cultivators believed to have fled on foot after noticing the presence of approaching troops minutes before they found their targets.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Alfred P. Dalizon