|
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Drug agency, police seize P15-M worth of marijuana
By Joey P. Nacalaban
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- An estimated P15 million worth of marijuana plants were uprooted Thursday morning by authorities in a plantation located in a secluded area of Talakag town in Bukidnon.
Post your Valentine's Day greetings
The arrest was a joint operation conducted by personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority (PDEA), Police Regional Office, Talakag police, Provincial Regional Mobile Group-Northern Mindanao, Bukidnon PPMG, and Bukidnon Special Operation Group.
PDEA Regional Director Rolando Bade identified the 51-year-old suspect as Ernesto Jimenez, a farmer and a native of sitio Tigason, Barangay Dominorog of the town.
Jimenez was arrested while in the act of cultivating the area where the marijuana plants were being planted.
Bade said prior to the arrest, an informant went to his office informing him of the presence of a marijuana plantation in the area.
Without delay, Bade said he immediately conducted a surveillance to confirm the report and it turned out positive.
Jimenez, the suspect, said he only started planting marijuana just last December.
He said he planted it along with corn within an almost one-hectare farm lot.
"This is just to buy rice sir, while there is still no harvest of corn. It's small until now I am still poor," Jimenez explained.
However, Jimenez revealed there were buyers who visited the area to buy from him bundles of the illegal plants.
Some of his customers, he said, were Chinese.
Bade told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro that his office is still monitoring the area in Bukidnon after receiving reports that there are individuals who are also on the same trade.
He added that he is determining whether Jimenez is backed up by big-time drug syndicates operating in Northern Mindanao.
Bade said the big haul of marijuana so far for this year alone might have been linked to some unscrupulous people who are into the illegal activity.
The PDEA chief said it is possible that the same uprooted illegal plants might be intended for transport to another port area in the country.
Marijuana, said Bade, is still one of the favorites among the youth, especially students, even with the proliferation of shabu.
He said one could pay only P300 per marijuana plant. The dried leaves are then rolled into papers before selling it at P5 per stick.
Meanwhile, if Jimenez will be found guilty of violating Republic Act 9165, Section 16, also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of the Philippines, he would languish in jail since he is prohibited from posting bail. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (February 17, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Army battalion secures American servicemen