Marijuana plants uprooted in Carmen

CEBU, Philippines - Authorities uprooted 1200 fully grown marijuana plants amounting P240,000 in sitio Malubog in the mountain barangay of Ipil in Carmen town yesterday morning.

The marijuana plantation covered a portion of about two hectares of land owned by Camilo Cambaya, currently a detainee at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center. He was arrested March this year also for cultivating marijuana.

The evidence recovered will be taken to the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory today for chemical analysis.

The area was under surveillance for two weeks before the operation was carried out. Police suspected that Cambaya’s sons, Jesus and a certain “Dedeng,” were the ones who cultivated the plants, but the two were nowhere to be found when the police arrived.

SPO2 Renerio Masucol Jr. of the Carmen police said the two could have spotted them from a distance and immediately escaped.

“Hayag naman pud to pag-adto namo so while approaching the area makita gyud mi,” Masucol said.

Flaciano Batiquil, chief of Barangay Ipil, said they are having a difficult time monitoring all areas in his barangay owing to the size of his jurisdiction.

“Sa kadako sa lugar dili namo malukop tanan,” he said in an interview over TV Patrol Central Visayas.   - (THE FREEMAN)