Gov't operatives destroy P18.2-M worth marijuana plants in Sulu

February 14, 2026 | 5:44pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Anti-narcotics agents, policemen and soldiers together uprooted and burned P18.2 million worth of marijuana shrubs and seized six combat rifles in an anti-narcotics operation in Barangay Pitogo in Kalingalan Caluang town in Sulu on Thursday, February 12.

The operation, led by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 9 and supported by different units of the Police Regional Office 9 in the province and Army’s 21st and 101^st Infantry Battalions under the 11^th Infantry Division, was based on reports by Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan, Jr. and his constituent-leaders about the presence of a two-hectare marijuana farm in Barangay Pitogo in Kalingalan Caluang.

Bryan Babang, PDEA 9 regional director, told reporters on Saturday that their agents, policemen and soldiers seized 21,200 marijuana plants then, which they immediately set on fire after collecting specimens to be used as evidence filing criminal cases against propagators.

The caretakers of the marijuana farm immediately scampered away when they sensed the raiding team approaching their location from two directions, leaving behind 14 kilos of dried marijuana leaves, costing P280,000, that they were repacking, in small plastic containers, in their shanty close to their illegal farm.

The raiding team also found in their abandoned makeshift shelter an M1 Garand rifle, four M16 rifles and an M14 rifle, now in the joint custody of the PDEA 9 and the police.

“We are thankful to the local officials and the provincial government of Sulu, the Sulu Provincial Police Office and Army units in the province for supporting our marijuana uprooting operation in that municipality,” Babang said.

Tan, a first-term provincial governor, said they are ready to help prosecute in absentia the owners of the marijuana plants that agents of the PDEA 9 destroyed.

“We want them prosecuted to the fullest extent of law,” Tan, presiding chairperson of the multi-sector Sulu Provincial Peace and Order Council, said.

Photo: Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 9 immediately set on fire the marijuana plants they uprooted in an operation in Kalingalan Caluang, Sulu last Thursday, February 12, 2026. 

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