Mindanaotoday.com | P1.5M ‘ganja’ up in smoke in Bukidnon following police operation
By: Franck Dick Rosete
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Authorities uprooted then destroyed an estimated P1.5 million worth of marijuana plants in phfxa secluded area in m;]3489 Sitio Bagalbal, Barangay Guinuyoran, Valencia City, Bukidnon on Friday, March 24.
Lt. Col. Kaddafy Bitor, officer-in-charge of the Bukidnon 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company (PMFC), said more or less 7,500 pieces of fully grown marijuana plants were discovered and uprooted in an estimated land area of a quarter of a hectare.
Police investigators asked residents of nearby houses to identify the owner of the land; however, the neighboring residents didn’t know the lot owner.
“But the chief of the Provincial Drug Enforcement Group, Lt. Col. Bryan Reponte already conducted an investigation to identify the owner of that area,” Bitor said in vernacular in a phone interview on Friday.
Prior to the actual operation, the police authorities received information pertaining to the alleged marijuana plantation from a concerned citizen who passed by the area, prompting them to conduct the operation against marijuana eradication.
All uprooted marijuana plants were burned, and the authorities sprayed them with herbicide to prevent possible growth.
Col. Reynante Reyes, director of the Bukidnon Police Provincial Office, ordered the local police to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident and possible arrests of illegal drug suspects. (MT)
###