PNP going after ‘plantitos’ of illegal kind

INDOOR GREENHOUSE Marijuana is grown in an indoor greenhouse inside a Taguig City condominium apartment, complete with climate control equipment. A Spanish man and his Filipino live-in partner were arrested onMay 13 after selling dried marijuana leaves to undercover narcotics police. —PNP-PIO PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities are investigating the possibility that some illegal drug syndicates have shifted to cultivating marijuana plants inside condominium apartments.

In a statement on Saturday, Philippine National Police chief, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, said the successful operations of the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) had “greatly reduced the ‘shabu’ (crystal meth) supply in the country” and could have caused the shift to growing and selling marijuana.

“We need to intensify our intelligence gathering if this is now the style of drug syndicates, especially marijuana dealers. It is possible that a number of them have been doing so since authorities cannot just go inside condominiums,” he said.

Quoting PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva, Eleazar noted that the demand for marijuana and ecstasy increased last year due to intensified law enforcement.

“Drug groups should not be full of themselves, because we can catch them even on their high-tech operations,” he said.

Taguig growers busted

The warning came after an indoor “farm” of high-grade marijuana, or “kush,” was discovered on May 13 by operatives of the National Capital Region Police Office inside a condominium apartment in Taguig City.

At least P2.2 million worth of potted marijuana plants were confiscated from Raul Antonio Cisneros, 36, a Spanish national, and his Filipino live-in partner, Meljie Maquiling, 28.

Temperature control

The couple were arrested after they sold three sachets of dried marijuana amounting to P5,000 to undercover agents inside their apartment.

Authorities found the marijuana plants, which were two weeks to four months old, being grown in 147 plastic pots inside one room in the apartment that had been turned into an indoor greenhouse, with equipment to control temperature, humidity, light intensity and airflow.

Cisneros, a retired member of the US Air Force, was previously arrested and charged with drug trading and illegal possession of ecstasy tablets by the Taguig police on July 20, 2019. That case was dismissed.

Police said the suspects had numerous connections and supplied drugs to pushers in the cities of Makati, Taguig and Pasig, and other areas in the Calabarzon region during the pandemic.

Eleazar said investigators were trying to determine whether the suspects were members of a bigger drug syndicate.