PDEA destroys marijuana farm

Authorities destroyed a marijuana plantation in Cebu and arrested a suspect during a separate drug bust in Bohol in coordinated operations Thursday, anti-narcotics officials reported.

Following an eight-hour trek, law enforcement teams led by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) uprooted 129 fully grown marijuana plants around 11 a.m. in Sitio Guincamote, Barangay Captain Claudio, Toledo City.

The plants were valued at an estimated P25,800.

PDEA regional director Joel B. Plaza said the suspect, locally known as alias Gene, fled before officers arrived.

Representative samples were turned over for laboratory testing, while the remaining plants were burned at the site in accordance with national drug disposal guidelines. Authorities plan to file charges for the cultivation of dangerous drugs against the fugitive cultivator.

Later that afternoon, PDEA agents and local police conducted a buy-bust operation at 5:24 p.m. in Barangay Bool, Tagbilaran City.

Officers arrested alias Kalaw, 38, an unemployed resident of Panglao, Bohol. Investigators seized three packages containing approximately 35 grams of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P238,000, along with the buy-bust money and a mobile phone.

The suspect is detained at the Tagbilaran Police Station facing charges for the sale and possession of illegal drugs.