Cops destroy 2-hectare Lanao del Sur marijuana farm

CAMP SK PENDATUN, Maguindanao — Policemen on Monday uprooted no fewer than 40,000 marijuana shrubs in a two-hectare farm in Maguing town in Lanao del Sur.

Col. Jibin Bongcayao, Lanao del Sur provincial police director, said Tuesday armed men guarding the farm in Barangay Bato-Bato, Maguing immediately scampered away when they noticed policemen and soldiers approach their position from three directions.

Bongcayao said anti-narcotics operatives of the provincial police placed at no less than P8 million the value of the marijuana plants that they immediately set on fire after collecting samples to be used as evidence in filing cases against the group behind its propagation.

The marijuana uprooting operation was carried out by personnel of units under the Lanao del Sur police and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, the Maguing municipal police force and the Army’s 55th Infantry Battalion of the 103rd Infantry Brigade.

Bongcayao said it was local officials and vigilant residents of Maguing, located in the first district of Lanao del Sur, who informed them about the presence of the marijuana farm in Barangay Bato-Bato.