FLOATING SHABU. Authorities conduct inventory and marking of evidence on the container, loaded with about 16.5 kilos of shabu worth PHP112.2 million, that a fisherman recovered floating on Bolinao, Pangasinan Aug. 18, 2024. The contraband is the biggest that authorities seized in August alone. (Photo courtesy of Ilocos Police Regional Office)
ALAMINOS CITY, Pangasinan – About PHP141 million worth of illegal drugs were confiscated by authorities in the Ilocos Region in the whole of August.
The Ilocos Police Regional Office (PRO-1) on Tuesday said combined operations among law enforcement agencies in the region have resulted in the confiscation of a total of 20,669 kilos of shabu and over 10,000 kilos of marijuana plants, seedlings, and plants the entire August.
PRO-1 information office chief Lt. Col. Benigno Sumawang, in a phone interview, said the anti-drug operations also netted 121 suspects.
The largest haul was 16.5 kilograms of shabu worth PHP112 million from the container found by a fisherman floating some 40 nautical miles west of Barangay Patar, Bolinao, Pangasinan on Aug. 18.
The others include 885.93 grams, worth PHP6 million, found by two fishermen floating some 14 nautical miles from Candon City, Ilocos Sur; 70 grams worth PHP476,000 seized from a high-value individual during a buy-bust in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan; and the total of 200 grams, worth PHP1.46 million, seized from high-value personalities in La Union and Pangasinan.
During the month, authorities also confiscated 2,053 grams of marijuana plants; 6,170.27 grams of dried marijuana leaves; and 2,000 marijuana seedlings.
Sumawang said two marijuana plantations were destroyed in Sugpon, Ilocos Sur on Aug. 30, with around PHP2.4 million worth of marijuana plants destroyed.
He said some 12,000 pieces of fully grown marijuana plants in a total estimated land area of 1,500 square meters, located in different sites, were collected.
Herbicides were sprayed at the plantations to prevent possible regrowth of marijuana plants, he added. (PNA)
