Fully grown marijuana plants with an estimated value of more than PHP3 million were destroyed during a three-day marijuana eradication operation within the boundary of Ilocos Sur and Benguet provinces.
Lt. Jerry Arzabal, acting chief of the Sugpon police station in Ilocos Sur, confirmed this on Thursday following the February 9-11 operation in the disputed boundary of Barangays Danac and Licungan in Sugpon, Ilocos Sur and Sitio Culliang, Barangay Tacadang in Kibungan, Benguet province.
This disputed area has become a favorite grow-site for the illegal cultivation of marijuana as shown in previous raids by policemen and PDEA personnel in the past years.
According to Arzabal, joint operatives of the Philippine National Police based in Ilocos Sur and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Regional Field Office 1 conducted operation in the area and found fully grown marijuana plants in two different locations covering a total estimated land area of 2,050 square meters.
No cultivator was apprehended during the operation.
After uprooting and burning them on-site, samples were turned over by Sugpon Police Station to PDEA agent Marlon A. Apolog for proper disposition on Thursday.
The operating teams returned on early Thursday but two personnel from the 103rd company of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion who participated in the mission were injured due to slippery terrain on their way home.