GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Anti-drug operatives uprooted and destroyed some 11,165 hills of fully-grown marijuana and arrested an alleged supplier in a series of operations on Tuesday in the Sarangani town of Malungon.
Chief Supt. Eliseo Tam Rasco, regional director of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-12, said Wednesday the marijuana plantations were discovered in parts of Sitio Atmurok, Barangay Datal Batong in Malungon.
Acting on a tip from concerned residents, Rasco said joint elements of PRO-12 and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-12 proceeded to the area around 1:30 a.m.
The operation involved teams from the Malungon municipal police station, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-12 and the Sarangani police’s intelligence branch, provincial drug enforcement unit and provincial mobile force company.
Rasco said the operating team initially conducted an entrapment operation against suspected marijuana supplier Antonio Tabangay, who was listed by the PDEA-12 as a “high-value target.”
He said an undercover operative managed to buy at least two packs of dried marijuana leaves worth PHP15,000 from the suspect, who was immediately arrested.
Recovered from Tabangay was a marked PHP1,000 bill and PHP14,000 in counterfeit bills used in the buy-bust, two plastic bags containing dried marijuana leaves, a Garand rifle and four caliber .30 bullets, he said.
During the transaction, Rasco said Tabangay’s alleged cohort – identified as Elmer Enok alias “Mel” – sensed the presence of the operatives and engaged them in a brief firefight. Enok managed to escape to towards the direction of Barangay Bolol Salo, Kiblawan town in Davao del Sur.
Pursuing operatives recovered an abandoned pack of dried marijuana leaves estimated at about 1,000 grams outside the suspect’s house.
“He (Enok) reportedly incurred gunshot wounds during the encounter and was able to escape through assistance from a certain alias Lipay,” he said.
Rasco said the team found near the area an abandoned plantation with some 10,536 hills of fully-grown marijuana.
He said two more separate plantations were discovered in the area with 106 and 523 hills of fully-grown marijuana, respectively.
The official said investigators are currently verifying the owners and cultivators of the marijuana plantations, as well as the other possible cohorts of Tabangay and Enok.
The two will be charged with selling and possession of illegal drugs, under Article II of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Tabangay will face a separate case for illegal possession of firearm and ammunition. (PNA)
