By CESAR JOLITO III

Police authorities eradicated around 3,000 stalks of suspected marijuana plants with an estimated street drug price of P600,000 during an early morning operation in a remote area of Barangay Manduao in Negros Oriental’s Bayawan City on Friday, January 30.

Bayawan police, in coordination with the 1st Provincial Mobile Force Company, discovered the fully grown marijuana plants at Sitio Mangga at 2:55 a.m. while conducting intelligence monitoring related to the service of a warrant of arrest in the area.

Operatives were patrolling on foot when they chanced upon the illegal plantation concealed in mountainous and difficult terrain.

No individuals were found tending the plants, and the suspect remains unidentified as of this writing.

Due to the distance from the main road and the challenging topography of the site, authorities decided to uproot and burn the marijuana plants on-site.

Police said five stalks of the suspected marijuana plants were preserved and will be turned over to the Provincial Forensic Unit for laboratory examination, chemical analysis, and proper disposition./CJ, WDJ