PRO-CAR seizes P2.8M in drugs, destroys marijuana plantations

BAGUIO CITY — Anti-drug operatives in the Cordillera region seized illegal drugs valued at more than P2.8 million, uprooted thousands of marijuana plants, and arrested a suspect in coordinated operations on April 14, police said.

The Police Regional Office Cordillera Administrative Region (PRO-CAR) reported that marijuana eradication efforts in Benguet led to the discovery of 2,880 fully grown marijuana plants and about 10.3 kilograms of dried marijuana stalks, leaves, and fruiting tops.

Authorities placed the total standard drug price at P1.81 million.

The plants were found across seven plantation sites in Barangays Kayapa in Bakun and Badeo in Kibungan.

Multiple police units, including municipal police stations, provincial mobile force companies, intelligence and drug enforcement units, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Cordillera, participated in the operations.

In Kalinga, a separate eradication operation uncovered another marijuana plantation with about 5,000 fully grown plants in Barangay Ngibat, Tinglayan, with an estimated value of P1 million.

All discovered marijuana plants were uprooted and destroyed on-site, police said. Authorities are continuing investigations to identify individuals possibly responsible for cultivating the illegal crops.

Meanwhile, a 29-year-old man listed by police as a street-level individual was arrested in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Babalag East, Rizal, Kalinga.

The suspect allegedly sold a sachet of suspected shabu weighing about 0.8 grams, with an estimated value of P5,440, to an undercover operative, according to police.

The suspect and seized evidence were taken into custody for documentation and proper disposition. Charges for violation of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, are being prepared, police said.

Authorities emphasized that operations remain ongoing, and all findings are subject to further investigation.