Police arrested 15 drug suspects, including 12 high-value individuals, in a series of anti-drug operations across the Cordillera on 18 and 19 April 2026.[1] The operations covered Baguio City and the provinces of Benguet, Mountain Province and Kalinga.[1] In Baguio City, the 12 high-value suspects were arrested with a search warrant at a house in the Slaughter Area, where police seized 21 grams of suspected shabu worth P142,800.[2] Three more street-level suspects were arrested in separate operations in Benguet and Mountain Province after they were caught using and hiding illegal drugs.[2] All 15 were facing charges under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.[2]
In Benguet, a two-day eradication campaign called Oplan Benguet Ultimate Grasscutter found 11 marijuana plantations in Bakun, Kapangan and Kibungan.[3] Officers uprooted 6,300 fully grown marijuana plants and seized 84,370 grams (84.37 kg) of dried marijuana leaves with fruiting tops.[3] Police valued the Benguet marijuana at P24,744,208.[2] The plants and evidence were documented and burned on site after samples were taken for the Regional Forensic Unit.[2] Authorities said the operations were part of an intensified campaign against illegal drug cultivation and trafficking in highland communities across Northern Luzon.[3]
Authorities burned about P12 million worth of marijuana plants in a joint operation on 18 April along the boundary of Saclit, Sadanga and Tinglayan, Kalinga.[4] The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency–Cordillera (PDEA-CAR), with police units, found around 60,000 fully grown marijuana plants spread across a 5,000-square-metre (0.5-hectare) plantation.[4] The plants were uprooted and burned on site, and the ashes were buried; no one was arrested.[4] Police reported a separate Kalinga operation in Barangay Loccong that brought the Kalinga total to about 66,000 plants worth more than P13.2 million.[2]