ABOUT P159 million worth of illegal or dangerous drugs were confiscated in the Cordillera from January to June this year.
Two of the agencies that accumulated this large haul were the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (Pdea) and the Police Regional Office in the Cordillera (Procor).
Pdea-Cordillera officer-in-charge Edgar Apalla said the haul was composed of 555,700 pieces of marijuana plants with a Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P111,140,000; 1,206,525.47 grams of dried leaves worth P30,163,136.75; 38.82 grams of shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride worth P232,920; and 748.70 grams of hashish valued at P187,175.
“These were confiscated in 31 drug operations involving 15 search and seizures, 12 buy-busts or entrapments, two eradications, and in the service of one search warrant and one warrant of arrest,” he said.
Apprehended during the operations were 25 pushers, seven possessors, three users and two traffickers or a total of 37 individuals aged 18 years old and above. Thirty of them are male and seven are female.
Of these 37, Apalla disclosed that 27 were not included in their watch-list of drug personalities.
He said five of the arrested drug suspects are also members of local drug groups operating in the region.
“These anti-illegal drug operations also resulted in the filing of 42 drug cases in court against the arrested suspects,” he said.
Among the seized non-drug evidence were five communications equipment and four vehicles.
