Cordillera cops seek replacement for crashed chopper

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet  – Cordillera policemen are asking  for a replacement of the already decommissioned four-seater Robinson Raven 44 helicopter to sustain their campaign against  marijuana culivation  in the Cordillera hinterlands.

Cordillera police director Chief Supt. Benjamin Magalong said they are asking  the national police headquarters for another chopper for their operations.

A police colonel, a pilot and another police officer escaped death on Saturday after strong winds gushed through the RR44’s rotor forcing them to crash land it on Mount Bitolayongan in Luccong, Tinglayan town Kalinga during the height of the  marijuana plantation raids.

The  helicopter was earlier used in surveying Cordillera mountains for marijuana plantations.

Magalong said they were able to confirm marijuana plantations through that helicopter.

Government forces netted at least P156.81-million worth of  marijuana plants, seeds and its derivatives in the five-hectare plantations scattered all over the  mountain.

It is so far the biggest find and haul this year in the country, said PDEA-Cordillera director Ronald Allan Ricardo. - Artemio A. Dumlao