- GILBERT BAYORAN
Policemen uprooted about 400 marijuana plants, worth P1.4 million, Sunday in Purok 5, Brgy. 2 Poblacion, Hinobaan, Negros Occidental, following the arrest of its alleged cultivator in a buy-bust operation.
P/Capt. Ramel Bustamante, Hinobaan police chief, reported to the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office that 390 marijuana plants were uprooted, aside from the recovery of 50 grams of dried marijuana leaves and seven stalks of marijuana plants.
Also nabbed during the joint buy-bust operation of the Hinobaan police, assisted by the 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company, 604th Company of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 6, PNP Maritime Command, and the NOCPPO Provincial Intelligence Unit, was Bryden Desierto, 30, of the place.
Two other drug suspects were arrested by the police in another buy-bust operation, also Sunday, in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, that yielded about P50,000 worth of illegal drugs.
The arrest of Arnel Banaag, alias Chong, and Sharon Mae Bangcruz in Brgy. RSB, La Carlota, also led to the confiscation of about seven grams of suspected shabu, with a market value of P47,600, marked money of P500, assorted drug paraphernalia, and two cellular phones./GB
