A PHILIPPINE Drug Enforcement Agency-led marijuana eradication drive in Kalingalan Caluan municipality in Sulu on Thursday resulted in the uprooting and destruction of over P18 million worth of fully-grown cannabis plants and seedlings, PDEA Director General Undersecretary Isagani R. Nerez said.
The prohibited crops were found growing in Bgy. Pitogo where members of the PDEA Sulu Provincial Office, the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Army’s 21st Infantry Battalion trekked for hours just to reach the site.
Officers later uprooted more than 21,000 pieces of fully-grown marijuana plants and burned them on site along with three sacks of dried cannabis leaves.
The suspected marijuana cultivators led by one alias “Mods” managed to escape arrest after sensing the arrival of the government troops. They will be charged for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 particularly the provisions against the cultivation of illegal drugs.
A similar operation in Bgy. Pitogo and Bgy. Masjid Punjungan supported by the Army’s 1102nd Infantry Brigade under their 11th Infantry Division also yielded six high-powered firearms composed of four M-16 rifles, one M-14 rifle and a Garand rifle as well as assorted magazines and live ammunition.
The scale, maturity, and quality of the plantations indicate an organized and well-established illegal cultivation operation situated in remote and difficult terrain, officials said.
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