Around 11,502 fully grown marijuana plants were uprooted and destroyed in Tupi, South Cotabato.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-SOCCSKSAREGEN (PDEA-12) discovered the plantation at a mountainous area of Barangay Miasong.
Authorities said the uprooted marijuana plants were worth more than P2.3 million.
Police personnel and PDEA-12 agents burned most of the plants on-site while two uprooted plants were secured for laboratory examination.
PDEA-12 said the alleged cultivator escaped during the operation and is now being pursued.
“The successful eradication operation constitutes a violation of Section 16, Article II of Republic Act 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, and underscores PDEA RO XII’s strengthened campaign against illegal drug cultivation and proliferation in Region XII,” PDEA-12 said.
