5,200 marijuana plants destroyed in Balamban raid
A joint police and military team raided on Friday a marijuana plantation in Balamban town in western Cebu and destroyed 5,200 fully grown marijuana plants in the area.
Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, Cebu Provincial Police Office Drug Enforcement Unit chief, said that marijuana leaves from the uprooted plants had an estimated street value of P2 million.
Batobalonos said that they raided the area after they verified information about the marijuana plantation in Sitio Taro, Barangay Bayong, Balamban town.
He said it took them nearly a month to conduct the operation because it was situated in a mountainous area of the town.
He said that one of the caretakers, Feliciano Sumalo, 50, a resident of Sitio Taro, was arrested while his 18-year-old, Eduardo Sumalo, managed to escape.
Aside from that, the team also confiscated a Frontier revolver with four bullets.
The raiding team was made up of operatives from the Drug Enforcement Unit, Provincial Intelligence Branch, Provincial Force Mobile Company, Balamban and Tabuelan Police and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Batobalonos said Feliciano Sumalo was detained at the Balamban Police Station detention cell pending the filing of charges.
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