Four persons are facing charges for transporting marijuana from the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) to Ilocos Sur, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) reported on Thursday.
Gil Ceasario Castro, PDEA-Cordillera director, identified the four suspects as Christian Allen Vergara Habab, 24, of Catagayan, Sta. Cruz, Ilocos Sur; Aljon James Ambasing Bangayan, 30, of Poblacion Norte, Sta. Cruz, Ilocos Sur; Mark Jamandre, of Santa Cruz, Ilocos Sur; and John Randolf Torres Cadavez, of Santa Lucia, Ilocos Sur.
In an interview, Castro said the four suspects were flagged down on Wednesday (Aug. 11) in a checkpoint set up by the PDEA and the Mt. Province Provincial Police Office at Sitio Dawaic, Otucan Norte in Bauko, Mountain Province.
He said they acted on information about two motorcycles that came from Kalinga and will pass Mountain Province towards Ilocos Sur via the Bessang Pass with the passengers carrying marijuana.
Castro said their personnel, together with the local police, immediately set up the checkpoint to ensure the targets will not pass the region’s boundary with the contraband. The motorcycles were intercepted past 11:00 p.m. on August 11. Discovered at the compartment of the motorcycles were 18 marijuana bricks and nine marijuana tubular packs.
Based on the inventory, Castro said the confiscated items weighed 21.697 kilograms of marijuana which has a standard price of PHP2,603,640.
He said the four will be facing charges for violation of Republic 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs law of 2002, specifically the provision on the illegal transport of prohibited drugs.
Source: Philippines News Agency