Cops seize marijuana bricks in Kalinga bus

TABUK, Kalinga -- Combined police operatives and anti-narcotics operatives confiscated 30 bricks of dried marijuana leaves inside the baggage compartment of a Manila-bound passenger bus in a checkpoint here at Talaka, Agbannawag afternoon of Dec. 16.

Chief Supt. Orlando Pestano, regional police director in the Cordillera, said the seized 30 bricks of dried marijuana leaves have a total market value of over P750,000.

Initial police investigation showed that upon receipt of a tip from a concerned citizen regarding the presence of illegal drugs inside a Manila-bound bus, elements of the Kalinga Provincial Police Office, Cordillera Regional Mobile Group, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency set up a checkpoint along the national highway in Talaka.

The seizure of the marijuana bricks was a product of the cooperation of the public in providing law enforcers with vital information which led to the successful anti-drug operations, Pestano said.