CANDON CITY, Ilocos Sur – Joint operatives from police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Regions 1 discovered and destroyed an estimated R866.5 million worth of fully-grown marijuana plants in the outskirt Mount Chumanchill, Barangay Loccong, Tinglayan, Kalinga province during the five-day operation last week.
Police conducted the operation from August 15-19 after law enforcers from the three regions received intelligence report about the presence of another major marijuana plantation in the other side of Mount Chumanchill.
The latest discovery is a huge follow up of a highly-successful operation early this month where an estimated P2 billion worth of marijuana plantation was also discovered in just near the same area.
Earlier this month, the lawmen destroyed huge marijuana plantations in Mount Chumanchill with an estimated worth of P2 billion.
In the latest operation, the lawmen uprooted and burned a total of 4,332,500 pieces of fully grown marijuana plants sown in a 183,500 square meters or 18.35 hectares in the vicinity of the said mountain.
Based on the standard set by the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), police said the estimated worth of the destroyed marijuana plants is P866,500,000.00.
Police said that follow-up probe to identify the cultivators of the marijuana plants is on-going. (Freddie G. Lazaro)