P84-M MARIJUANA PLANTS UPROOTED, DESTROYED BY COPS IN 4-DAY OPERATION

SANTOL, La Union -- Marijuana plants worth R84 million were uprooted
and destroyed during a four-day operation by police personnel of Camp
Diego Silang and Camp Oscar Florendo at the tri-boundary of of Ilocos
Sur, Benguet and La Union, it was reported.

Senior Supt. Samuel Diciano, La Union police director, said the haul
of more than 400,000 fully grown marijuana plants and 100,000
seedlings is so far the biggest among all the operations they had
conducted to eradicate the sources of marijuana.

The plants were discovered by the policemen led by Senior Inspector
Eduardo Danguecan, chief of the provincial mobile group, with the help
of police assets who condcuted surveillance at the boundaries of
Sugpon, Ilocos Sur; Kibungan, Benguet; and this mountain town of La
Union.

Danguecan turned over last Monday to Diciano some of the marijuana
plants that were brought down by the policemen to serve as evidence.

Danguecan, the operation's commanding officer, deployed 30 personnel,
in full battle gear, during the operation because of the presence of
armed civilians who are in cahoots with the marijuana farmers..

Media people joined the operation that started last Thursday morning
and ended Saturday night.

The policemen had to endure stress and fatigue in climbing four
mountains and crossing three rivers before they reached the plantation
area.

The troops stayed overnight last Thursday in the house of a resident
on the bank of the Amburayan River just below Mt. Gorilla and Mt.
Palayen, two towering mountains that separate the provinces of Benguet
and La Union.

The police operative also took a rest last Friday night in Tubaday
this town near the area of operation.

The plants were discovered in 10 plantation areas inf the remote
villages of Licungan, Sugpon, Ilocos Sur, and Mukgao, Kibungan,
Benguet. The plants were properly cultivated, and most of the
plantation areas are located in terrains hidden by steep portions of
the high mountains which are covered by thick forest.

Sources said an former Army man based in Baguio City and an
influential person from San Gabriel, La Union, who are engaged in the
marijuana business, are protecting the marijuana planters.

Sources said the two are providing rice supply and financial
assistance to the farmers. They are also providing garden hoses and
fertilizers used in the cultivation.

It was learned that the protectors are also the middlemen who buy the
dried marijuana leaves from the farmers at R700 per kilo and sell them
at prices ranging from R3,000 to R5,000 a kilo to their costumers in
Baguio City, Manila and Central Luzon.

After the uprooting operation, the policemen burned the plants with
dried tree branches and leaves. Also burned were facilities found in
the area. Some were dumped at a creek below a deep ravine.