GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Police operatives uprooted and destroyed around PHP750,000 worth of marijuana in an operation on Wednesday in an upland plantation in the South Cotabato town of Tampakan.
In a report to Police Regional Office (PRO)-12 regional director Chief Supt. Eliseo Tam Rasco Thursday, the South Cotabato Police Provincial Office said the marijuana plantation was discovered by joint operatives in Barangay Danlag, Tampakan.
Supt. Aldrin Gonzales, PRO-12 public information officer, said the Tampakan municipal police station earlier received a tip from concerned residents about the presence of the plantation in the area.
Gonzales said the local police, backed by personnel from the South Cotabato Provincial Mobile Force Company and the Regional Mobile Force Battalion-12, swooped down on the plantation at around 3 a.m. Wednesday.
Upon arrival at the site, Gonzales said the operating team found around 3,000 hills of fully-grown marijuana, though the owner was not around during the raid.
“The investigation and verification is ongoing as to the identity of the cultivator and other possible suspects,” he said.
Gonzales said the team immediately burned around 1,500 hills of the uprooted marijuana planted on a secluded area of the village and only accessible by hiking.
He said the area is known to be frequented by New People’s Army’s units under the Guerrilla Front 74-Far South Mindanao Region.
The operating team, which managed to return to the town center of Tampakan on Wednesday afternoon, brought the remaining 1,500 fully-grown marijuana plants for evidence purposes. (PNA)
