5 dump trucks with quarry aggregates seized in Cagayan

TUGUEGARAO CITY — Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Bantay Quarry checkers of the Cagayan provincial government had confiscated five dump trucks loaded with alleged illegally transported quarry aggregates on Friday morning.

Edwin Buendia, head of the Cagayan provincial government’s Bantay Quarry, said the five dump trucks were impounded at the provincial capitol while the five drivers have been temporarily placed under NBI custody.

The drivers’ names were withheld pending further investigation, Buendia told the Inquirer. He said each truck had been loaded with about 20-cubic-meter quarry aggregates, which cost more than P150,000 in wholesale value.

One of the dump truck drivers showed an expired quarry transport permit issued in December last year while the four other shipments had no papers, Buendia added.

The quarry teams were tipped off about the dump trucks loaded with aggregates that were cruising from Kalinga to Solana, prompting authorities to intercept five of the trucks in Barangay (village) Maddarulug. The other vehicles allegedly sped away.

Buendia said owners and drivers would be charged for theft of minerals if they fail to show papers to transport quarry aggregates. /kga