P100-m Marijuana Plants Destroyed At Benguet Sitio

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Elements of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force ( AIDSOTF ) uprooted some 500,000 marijuana plants valued at some R100 million in a plantation in Benguet believed to be owned by New People's Army ( NPA ) rebels.

Director Marcelo Ele Jr., AID-SOTF director, stated in his report that his men discovered the marijuana plantation at a far-flung area some 7,120 feet above sea level at the tri-boundaries of Benguet, Mt. Province, and Ifugao.

Ele said that AID-SOTF, supported by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency ( PDEA ), raided the marijuana plantation located at Sitio Soukan, Barangay Lamayan, Buguias, Benguet.

Of the estimated 500,000 marijuana plants uprooted, Ele said, 300,000 were fully grown with fruiting tops, 150,000 half-grown, and 50,000 marijuana seedlings on plots.

"( The ) said plantation was reported to be maintained and cultivated by local CTs ( communist terrorists ) as their source of funds," the AID-SOTF report stated.

The raiding teams also found at the plantation a manual on insect sprayers and insecticides.

No one was arrested in the operation, the report also stated.

Because the police authorities had no capability to airlift the huge volume of the uprooted marijuana plants to Camp Crame in Quezon City, Ele said, they burned the prohibited plants in Barangay Lam-ayan.

Only four sacks of marijuana plants were presented by Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes and PNP chief Director-General Arturo Lomibao during a press conference at Camp Crame.

"This shows the momentum that we started will keep on going and we will even accelerate ( the anti-illegal drugs campaign )," Reyes said as he congratulated the policemen who participated in the operation.

A few months ago, police operatives likewise raided a big marijuana plantation at the tri-boundary of Benguet, La Union and Ilocos Sur. Marijuana plants valued at several millions of pesos were uprooted and destroyed.

The plantation was also suspected to be owned by NPA rebels.

Source: Manila Bulletin (The Philippines)
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