61 bricks of marijuana found in dumpsite

Police were baffled by the discovery of a total of 61 bricks of compacted dried marijuana leaves abandoned in an old dumpsite Wednesday night in Valenzuela City.

Residents of Sitio Tatalon in Barangay Ugong found the marijuana slabs placed inside seven sacks on a burning portion of a former dumpsite in the area at around 7 p.m., police said.

"People living near the old dumpsite became curious when they smelled what they described as a ‘pleasant smoke’ emanating from the burning trash," Superintendent Jose Marcelo, Valenzuela City police chief, said.

Residents, accompanied by barangay tanods, checked on the burning rubbish and found out the stockpile of seven sacks some of them already burning.

According to witnesses, they observed a white car wandering in the vicinity of the former garbage site early in the night and moments later dumped what they thought was trash.

"Perhaps the marijuana haul was really intended for delivery that night, but since we have a checkpoint in Barangay Ugong, its carrier decided to throw away his load," Marcelo said.

Barangay tanods immediately called for police assistance and brought the marijuana bricks to the police station.

The Valenzuela City police turned over yesterday the marijuana slabs, valued at P67,000, to the Northern Police District-Scene of the Crime Office (NPD-SOCO).

Senior Superintendent Marcelino Franco Jr., NPD director, ordered Marcelo to have his men patrol even the remotest village in the city as he appealed to the residents for their cooperation for the police to be more effective in fighting criminality. –Pete Laude