Cops, PDEA agents uproot PHP500,000-worth of marijuana plants in Maguindanao

Cops, PDEA agents uproot PHP500,000-worth of marijuana plants in Maguindanao (Photo: Guilhem Vellut/ Flickr)

COTABATO CITY—Police and anti-narcotics operatives uprooted Monday afternoon more than PHP500,000 worth of marijuana plants in the hinterlands of Matanog, Maguindanao.

Senior Police Officer 4 Junior Abas of Matanot PNP said the raid in Sitio Babaken, Barangay Bayanga Sur, Matanog, Maguindanao was conducted with elements of the Army’s 37th Infantry Battalion and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM).

Authorities seized more than 10,000 marijuana plants and arrested its cultivator, identified only as Badong Borero.

Abas said to date, more than PHP10 million worth of marijuana plants and seedlings have been uprooted in the vast mountains of Matanog, located near the boundary of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur.

From July to December, Abas said at least 12 major anti-drug operations have been conducted.

In Monday’s operation, anti-narcotics operatives and police burned about 200 marijuana seedlings in the plantation site and brought several plants to the PDEA-ARMM headquarters as evidence against the suspect.

Abas lauded the village officials of Bayanga for actively helping the police in its campaign against marijuana plants and illegal drugs in the village.