NBI overruns 15 weed plantations in Benguet

BAGUIO CITY — Using unmanned aerial vehicles, National Bureau of Investigation-Cordillera agents, aided by narcotics operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Cordillera, overran 15 marijuana plantations in remote sitio Bana, barangay Tacadang, Benguet on Wednesday. 

The drones, newly-acquired by NBI, facilitated the pinpointing of the plantations tucked within the rugged terrain and vegetated hillsides concealing the illicit plantations in sitio Bana, NBI-Cordillera regional director lawyer Eleanor Rachel Angeles said.

Agent-on-case NBI Special Investigator III Neilbert Pisec said that drones provided good technical intelligence to operatives because it immediately told exactly where these were located within the vast area of the valleys and mountainsides of sitio Bana.

The move confirmed an informant’s tip on the first week of January this year to the NBI about the marijuana plantations being maintained in the area, SI III Pisec said. He said that they, however, failed to catch the plantation caretaker/grower.

Around 40,500 pieces of marijuana plants estimated to cost P8,100,000.00, mostly harvestible in a week’s time, were sent to flames, said Angeles.