15 caught transporting P4.3-M worth of marijuana in Benguet

BAGUIO CITY — The police arrested 15 people, two of them minors, on Wednesday dawn for allegedly attempting to transport P4.3 million worth of marijuana through a checkpoint at Kapangan town in Benguet province, the Cordillera police reported.

Policemen stopped three vehicles and a motorcycle at the checkpoint in Barangay (village) Paykek at 2:30 a.m. and seized 5 sacks containing 41 marijuana bricks, each weighing 2 kilos; 3 bricks that weighed 1 kg; and 18 marijuana stalks. The vehicles’ passengers also carried P500,000 in cash.

A fourth vehicle in the convoy sped off along the Kapangan road, which connects Kapangan and Bagulin town in La Union province.

The Benguet police office has taken custody of the 13 suspects, and had turned over a 9-year-old child and an 11-year-old child to their relatives. JE