MANILA- Police destroy P70-M marijuana plantation

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Police destroy P70-M marijuana plantation

By Jun Elias And Harley Palangchao, Northern Luzon Bureau

CAMP OSCAR FLORENDO, La Union: Policemen from the regional police office here and Ilocos Sur have uprooted hundreds of thousands of marijuana plants in Sugpon, Ilocos Sur, amounting to more than P70 million and confiscated one carbine firearm.

The police disclosed that around 300,000 fully grown and 15,000 newly planted marijuana plants were found by the raiding team at the area of Mt. Nacmy and Mt. Maalatay in Sitio Nava of the said town.

The policemen took three days to uproot the plants. They started the operation on Tuesday.

Deputy Director General Ricardo de Leon, head of the Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Force, supervised the uprooting and destruction of the marijuana plants on Thursday.

De Leon told The Manila Times that the operation is in line with President Arroyo's directive that the police conduct a vigorous campaign against illegal drugs and pinpoint marijuana plantations and drug laboratories.

He said the task force is concentrating on marijuana because at least 60 percent of the shabu supply has already been "neutralized" and they are expecting drug addicts to resort to marijuana.

"We are pinpointing all marijuana plantations because it is the best alternative to shabu. Shabu supply has gone down and people will now resort to marijuana. We hope to eradicate marijuana and we will make sure that no finished product would enter the market," de Leon said.

He admitted that the Ilocos region is one of the major producers of marijuana and many plantations are located within the boundaries of Ilocos Sur, La Union and Benguet.

De Leon said they are looking into the identity of the suspect who escaped during the operation and that they are also conducting investigations to find out if there are protectors in the cultivation of the illegal plants.

https://www.manilatimes.net/national/2005/jan/21/yehey/prov/20050121pro1.html
 
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