PDEA-7, Danao City police uproot P4M worth of fully grown marijuana plants

PDEA-7 agents and Danao City policemen uprooted P4 million worth of marijuana stalks from a plantation which they found in the hinterland barangay of Langosig in Danao City. /Photo from PRO-7

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Law enforcers uprooted at least 10, 000 stalks of fully grown marijuana plants worth around P4 million from a farm located in the hinterland barangay of Langosig in Danao City on Saturday afternoon, July 27.

A joint team consisting of Danao City policemen and personnel from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) also arrested two of the four men whom they caught planting marijuana seedlings in the area.

The arrested suspects were identified as Jolito Ladero, 39 and Renerio Lato Cal, 49.

Police Master Sergeant Rene Camargo of the Danao City Police Station said that they also continue to locate the whereabouts of the two other cultivators who were identified as Apolicarpio Lawas Jr., 49, and Isidro Martel, who is believed to also be in his 40s.

“Dali man gud naka dagan ning duha,” Camargo told CDN Digital in a phone interview today, July 28.

(The two were able to immediately flee and elude arrest.)

Camargo said they also continue to locate the owner of the property where the marijuana plants were found for the filing of appropriate charges against him/her.

He said that a concerned citizen called the Danao City police at around 1 p.m. on Saturday to tip them of the illegal activities of the four suspects.

The tipster told the police that the suspects were growing at least 10, 000 marijuana stalks in a one-hectare lot in Barangay Langosig, said Camargo.

He said that Danao police immediately coordinate with PDEA-7 in planning Saturday’s operation.

Camargo said they already burned 9,850 stalks of fully grown marijuana plants which they uprooted in Barangay Langosig while they kept 150 stalks for evidence purposes./dcb