P23M worth of marijuana confiscated
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 19:36:00 09/06/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Combined elements of Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Tublay Municipal Police intercepted a total of 946 kilos of marijuana worth more than P23 million in Tublay toll gate in Benguet Saturday morning, the Dangerous Drugs Board said in a statement.
DDB chairman Vicente Sotto III congratulated the team headed by Senior Inspector Edward Esperanza, Tublay chief of police, and the PDEA team who conducted a check point in the area after receiving information.
“I would like to congratulate the PDEA and the PNP here in Benguet because aside from the fact that the government is giving the farmers an alternative development they able to conduct arrest those violating the law on illegal drugs,” Sotto said.
“So we will be investigating and will ask PDEA Director General Dionisio Santiago to make a full investigation on who is behind this shipment. I am sure we will get the bottom of it,” he added.
Sotto further said that the police now has in custody the truck driver and currently undergoing tactical interrogation to find out who is behind the marijuana shipment.
The DDB chair explained that the truck drive, Eugene Lingaling, 26, native of Sagpat Junction, Kubungan, Benguet, will be spare from prosecution should he tell all important detail about the marijuana shipment -- who owns it, where it came from, and who ordered him to deliver it.
Around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, the combined elements of PDEA and PNP Tublay conducted a checkpoint at the Tublay toll gate after receiving report from credible informant that a truck with plate number XCK-832 is loaded with marijuana.
The team able to intercept the truck carrying a total of 946 kilos of marijuana with market value of P23,662,500. Upon inspection to the truck, the police found out a 936 bricks and 10 bundle of marijuana on board.
Sotto together with DDB officials have went to Kapangan town in Benguet to visit the government’s ongoing project dubbed the agro-based industry of silkworms making raw silk around their cocoon. The silk thread, then, woven into fabric that command competitive selling price in the market.
The DDB also donated to the Kapangan town P3.5-million as financial assistance for the development of silk production.
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