LAOAG CITY—About PHP4.35 million worth of fully-grown marijuana plants were uprooted and later burned by authorities during an anti-illegal drugs operation in Barangay Tulgao, Tinglayan, Kalinga on Saturday.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), along with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Philippine National Police (PNP) operatives from Regions 1, 2, and the Cordillera Administrative Region, conducted the operation.
Agent Gerald Butele of NBI Laoag and team leader of Operation Green Viking on Tuesday said they found five plantation sites with an aggregate estimated land area of 2,350 square meters in sitio Balay, Barangay Tulgao East and West in Tinglayan town.
“The successful operation is still in line of the government’s intensified drive to eradicate prohibited drugs including that of marijuana,” said Butele, adding that their troop stayed in the mountains for five days to uproot the marijuana plants located on the steep portions of the mountains, which were difficult to access.
No one was arrested during the operation. (Leilanie Adriano/PNA)