JOINT POLICE and Army personnel overran on Sunday a hideout of the New People’s Army (NPA) and uncovered a marijuana plantation allegedly operated by the rebels in a hinterland village in Kiamba town, Sarangani Province.
Brig. Gen. Eliseo Tam Rasco, regional director of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-12, said Monday the NPA lair was found following an encounter with the rebels around 11 a.m. at a portion of Sitio Tabutong, Barangay Nalus in Kiamba.
He said police and Army elements were dispatched to the area early Sunday morning for an anti-illegal drug operation targeting members of NPA who were reportedly operating and cultivating a marijuana plantation.
The operating team was composed of personnel from the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB)-12, Special Action Force, Army’s 27th Infantry Battalion, Kiamba municipal police station and Sarangani police’s mobile force company, intelligence branch and drug enforcement unit.
The operation, which was led by Lt. Col. Barney Condes of the RPSB-12, was conducted in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Region 12.
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