LA TRINIDAD, Benguet - Joint forces of police and anti drug agents discovered more than P1 million worth of illegal drugs in Bakun, Benguet recently.

The Benguet Provincial Police Office together with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Cordillera Administrative Region conducted marijuana eradication in Sitio Barbarit and Ig-Igal in Barangay Bagu in Bakun last week.

Around 5, 500 pieces of fully grown marijuana plants with an estimated value of P1, 100, 000 were destroyed, including 2,400 pieces of marijuana seedlings with an estimated value of P96, 000.00 pegging the total value at P1,196, 000.

The police operatives report that all uprooted marijuana plants and seedlings were immediately burned on site.

Unfortunately, no cultivator was arrested in the eradication despite efforts exerted by the law enforcers.

Since January, the BPPO and the PDEA have been conducting eradication operations in the municipalities of Kapangan, Kibungan and Bakun, all in Benguet. They also conducted operations in the tri-boundaries of Benguet, La Union, and Ilocos Sur.

Last week, Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan ordered the BPPO to strengthen their campaign against illegal drugs including the continuous eradication of marijuana plantations in the province. *(RC-PIA CAR)