P11.8-M MARIJUANA SEIZED IN CORDILLERA

CAMP DANGWA, Benguet: Around 472 kilos of marijuana bricks worth
P11.8 million were seized on Monday from a suspected pusher in
Mountain Province, the biggest haul in a single operation since the
start of the year.

Combined forces of the Mountain Province police and Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency confiscated the marijuana bricks from one Romeo
Agaho, who reportedly shipped the contraband from Kalinga province.

Chief Supt. Raul Gonzales, Cordillera police director, said the
suspected pusher was arrested in Sitio Langakeo, Bontoc, Mountain
Province, while riding a commercial jeepney.

The suspect refused to comment when reporters tried to interview
him.

Gonzales said the seizure of the bricks sealed in newspapers is a
major victory over marijuana cultivation in the Cordillera.

Supt. Bernardo Borrinaga, PDEA director, said the operation was a
result of a four-month surveillance, including an initial test-buy
against the suspect last month.

Borrinaga said initial investigation showed that Agaho has a standing
arrest warrant issued by a Benguet court for rape case. The suspect
reportedly escaped from the La Trinidad jail on Oct. 5, 2005 and was
thereafter engaged in illegal trade of marijuana in Kalinga and
Mountain provinces.

Sr. Supt. Rodrigo Licudine, chief of the Cordillera Regional
Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force, said the sale of marijuana reaches its
peak months before school enrollment, saying that marijuana
cultivation is one of the main livelihoods of some farmers who send
their children to school.

About 70 percent of the country's supply of marijuana comes from the
hinterlands of the Cordillera region.

The Cordillera police command and PDEA lauded the efforts of the team
led by Chief Inspectors Laurence Pangod, Dante Gacadan, Lousito Meris,
Proforio Calagan and one Police Officer Malasi.