P17-M marijuana torched in Cordillera

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Fully grown marijuana plants and seedlings valued at P18 million were uprooted and torched in separate operations by government forces in Ifugao and Benguet the other day.

Senior Inspector Dante Gacadan, officer-in-charge of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Cordillera, said a 2.3-hectare plantation in Barangay Ahin in Tinoc, Ifugao yielded 59,000 fully grown marijuana plants valued at P13.4 million.

No suspects were arrested during the raid on the Tinoc farm, although some men were sighted roaming around the area, Gacadan said.

On the same day, elements of the 603rd Provincial Police Mobile Group, led by Chief Inspector Jess Cambay, destroyed 35,000 marijuana seedlings worth about P4.6 million in Barangay Badew in Kapangan, Benguet.

"We are trying to at least lessen the production of marijuana plants in Benguet," said Senior Superintendent Conrado Miniano, Benguet police director. — Artemio Dumlao