Greenhouse to cultivate Marijuana?: 90 fully-grown plants discovered in Tublay, Benguet

Benguet, Philippines – Marijuana is not only being cultivated in the mountains; it is now being grown inside a greenhouse, say authorities who found the plant being grown in Benguet.

In the Cordillera region, authorities usually destroy marijuana plantation sites located in mountainous areas. In fact, just this March 25, anti-narcotics operatives eradicated marijuana plants worth a total of P9,594,000 in Kalinga and Benguet.

On March 24, however, operatives launched an anti-illegal drug operation at an unusual plantation site—a greenhouse, an enclosed structure designed to protect tender and out-of-season plants. The operation was carried out after police secured a search warrant from the court following the arrest of the greenhouse owner in a buy-bust operation on March 12.

Armed with the search warrant, operatives proceeded to Barangay Caponga in Tublay, Benguet, where they searched the greenhouse and discovered 90 fully grown marijuana plants with an estimated value of P18,000. According to the Police Regional Office Cordillera, the plants were uprooted and burned on-site to prevent replanting.

A sample of the confiscated plants was taken and turned over to the Regional Forensic Unit–CAR for laboratory examination.

Meanwhile, the owner of the greenhouse, who was earlier arrested for an illegal drug offense, is currently being detained at the Benguet Provincial Jail.