The intensified anti-illlegal drugs campaign of the Benguet Police Provincial Office (BPPO) led to the destruction of P2.93 million worth of marijuana plants in two towns within the BLISTT.
BLISTT stands for Baguio, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba, and Tublay.
In Sablan, P2.38M worth of marijuana plants were uprooted in four areas covering 2,280 square meters at Sitio Taleb, Banangan.
The areas were planted with 10,300 pieces of fully-grown marijuana which were uprooted and burned on site by joint personnel of Sablan Municipal Police Station (MPS), BPPO, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Cordillera, Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU)-14, and National Police Commission.
In La Trinidad, P550,000 worth of marijuana plants were uprooted and burned on site. The illegal plants were discovered at Sitio Tuba, Wangal.
Joint personnel of La Trinidad MPS together with the Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit, Provincial Intelligence Branch, RIU-14, and PDEA discovered 2,750 pieces of fully-grown marijuana in the area, which is considered a new plantation site.
PDEA-Benguet Provincial Officer Julius Paderes said they have intensified their monitoring in the two municipalities.
“It appears La Trinidad is a new area of plantation site. There was a first batch of harvest made. Let us reassess the drug situation in Benguet, because they shifted their modus. From far-flung places, they have brought marijuana in the capital town on the premise that because the capital town of La Trinidad is nearer, nobody expects that there is plantation in town,” Paderes said.
In Tabuk City, Kalinga, police intercepted a tourist from Tinglayan for carrying dried marijuana leaves.
Joint personnel of Tabuk City Police Station and PDEA arrested 21-year-old Omar Luis Espino Serrano from Caloocan City through a tipster who informed the police that the suspect was aboard a passenger bus from Tinglayan.
Upon receiving the information, a mobile checkpoint was setup at Bulanao, Tabuk City.
When the bus was about 15 meters from the checkpoint, the police said the suspect hurriedly alighted from the bus.
A PDEA agent followed Serrano and saw the suspect’s slightly opened bag containing marijuana, prompting the agent to accost him.
Taken from the suspect were four big dried leaves or stalks of marijuana in tubular form and wrapped in plastic and one small plastic containing dried leaves or stalks of marijuana.
The suspect was listed as a newly identified drug personality, according to the record of Tabuk police. – Ofelia C. Empian
April 25, 2024
