photo courtesy of Danao City police station
A police raid on Tuesday in Barangay Langosig, a mountain barangay in Danao City, yielded at least 14,000 marijuana plants worth at least P3 million.
Supt. Jaime Quiocho Jr., Danao City Police Station chief, said they also arrested three men who were believed to be caretakers of the marijuana “plantation.”
Those arrested were Ricardo Roque, 27, of Barangay Lawaan, Danao City; Vicente Tapia, 33, of Barangay Langosig, Danao City; and Roque Tapia Jr., 62, of Barangay Langosig, Danao City.
Quiocho said that the three suspects were either caught cultivating the marijuana plants, putting marijuana leaves in three sacks or putting dried marijuana leaves in a plastic bag.
Quiocho said that they uprooted the 14,980 fully grown marijuana plants and confiscated the marijuana leaves with an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value of P2.9 million.
However, Quiocho said that they had to burn most of the marijuana plants and only took 13 stalks of marijuana leaves to be tested as evidence at the police crime laboratory because of the difficult mountain terrain in the area, the bad weather and for the safety of the police officers, who were in an unfamiliar area.
The suspects were later detained at the Danao City Police Station detention cell pending the filing of charges.