By JOEY NACALABAN
Correspondent .
THE National Bureau of Investigation raided two major marijuana plantations and arrested a suspect in Iligan City on Wednesday.
Lawyer Alex Cabornay, head agent of the NBI in Iligan, identified the arrested suspect as Jason Ermac, 25, of Upper Luinab, Iligan, where the marijuana plantations were.
Cabornay however said the NBI failed to arrest Ermac’s grandmother, the owner of the land where members of the raiding team uprooted fully grown marijuana plants, and seized seedlings.
Ermac’s grandmother has been included in the case the NBI has been preparing, he said.
The NBI said the information about Iligan’s marijuana plantations came from a concerned citizen. After validating the information, authorities immediately organized a team to carry out the raid.
The team included members of the Philippine Drug and Enforcement Agency, and an Army intelligence unit.
Cabornay said NBI regional director Sally Hans Barbaso was informed about the surveillance and information validation work that lasted for three months before Wednesday’s raid.
He said Ermac was interrogated and initial findings showed that the marijuana produced by the plantations were sold only in Iligan.
Cabornay said authorities were looking into the possibility that there were other marijuana plantations in Iligan.
Ermac has been detained at the NBI while a case is being prepared against him.
Under the law, the offense of maintaining a marijuana plantation is a non-bailable offense.
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