P28-M worth of marijuana seized in Benguet

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Anti-narcotic agents seized about P28-million worth of marijuana from 62 plantations in Benguet, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said Wednesday.

Seized during the operation in two villages were 97,100 pieces of fully grown plants, 15,225 pieces of marijuana seedlings, 2,000 grams of dried leaves, 60,000 grams of marijuana stalks, and 5,000 grams of seeds, said PDEA Director General Undersecretary Arturo G. Cacdac Jr.

They were recovered from 62 marijuana plantation sites in the villages of Tacadang and Badeo, both in Kibungan during a series of operations from October 30 to November 3.

The recovered marijuana has a street value of P27,704,000.

Cacdac said 94.34 percent of the marijuana farms were found in Tacadang, while the other 5.66 percent were in Badeo. The cultivation sites in all were roughly 2.2 hectares.

“All uprooted and confiscated marijuana were burned and destroyed at the plantation sites during the eradication operations,” Cacdac said.

He said dialogues, consultations and information dissemination on the ill effects of marijuana use, legal implications of its production and trading, participation of the community in the enforcement of the anti-drug law and other related issues were conducted by the anti-narcotics operatives to the residents of the two villages.