Police identified the alleged cultivator as 45-year-old farmer alias Rico, a resident of Barangay Manlapay in Dalaguete, Cebu.[1] He was already in police custody on April 9 after Dalaguete police arrested him on April 7 for a separate offence.[1] Officers said charges under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 were being prepared against him over the Badian plantation.[1]
The operation uprooted and destroyed at least 400 fully grown marijuana plants in the mountainous area of Badian on the afternoon of April 8.[1] Authorities put the plants’ estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value at P80,000.[1] Most of the plants were burned at the site.[1] Officers kept 10 stalks, marked them and set them aside for chemical examination at the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory.[1]
The plantation was found in Sitio Lawaan, Barangay Sohoton, at about 4:30 p.m.[1] Personnel of the 703rd Major Combat Operation first spotted it during preventive patrol in a remote mountainous area.[1] The discovery prompted a joint eradication effort by the Badian and Dalaguete police, Regional Intelligence Division 7 and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.[1] Barangay officials witnessed the eradication to document it under standard procedures.[1] Police said further investigation continued into the extent of the cultivation.[1]
