Over P70 million worth of marijuana plants were destroyed by joint operatives of the Police Regional Office Cordillera (PRO-COR) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (Pdea) during the three-day implementation of “Oplan Green Pearl Alpha” in Barangay Loccong, Tinglayan, Kalinga.
The massive marijuana eradication campaign was a joint effort of Tinglayan, Lubuagan, Pasil, and Balbalan Municipal Police Station (MPS), 2nd Coy Provincial Mobile Force Company (PMFC) and members of Pdea-Cordillera.
Authorities destroyed 337,700 fully grown marijuana plants, 20,000 grams of marijuana stalks and 5,000 grams of dried leaves worth P70, 540,000.
The marijuana plantation sites have a total land area of 18,550 square meters.
Police said the operation was crafted in order to clear all drug-affected barangays in Kalinga, however, prior to the operation from March 26 to 28, eradicating plantation sites were made by the intelligence personnel of Tinglayan police.
Police Brigadier General Ephraim Dickson, regional director of the PRO-COR acknowledged and commended the accomplishment of the police in just two weeks of his leadership.
“Our operation against marijuana will continue and our anti-narcotic agents will sustain the operation and regularly visit those plantation areas to discourage the people from cultivating marijuana, and we will continue to unfold more marijuana plantations to clear all barangays from illegal drugs,” Dickson said.
Dickson assured the public that law enforcers and anti-narcotics operatives will strengthen the conduct of more anti-drug operations in the region in order to get rid, if not, reduce the supply of illegal drugs, particularly marijuana, which is planted rampantly in some parts of Cordillera.