KIBUNGAN, Mountain Province – Drug dealers eluded arrest but abandoned at least P5.5 million worth of marijuana bricks during a buy-bust operation in Mocgao, here, over the weekend.

Chief Superintendent Samuel B. Diciano, deputy regional director for administration of the Police Regional Office (PRO) in the Cordillera, said the confiscated illegal hemp was packed in 19 small sacks and weighed close to 150 kilos.

Combined police and anti-narcotics operatives seized the dried marijuana leaves in brick form but failed to arrest Jun Galate and Pacio Wan-aten, the two alleged dealers who abandoned the contraband after a gunshot rang out, apparently signaling that lawmen were in the area.

Diciano said the operatives had a difficult time cornering the suspects because the place of the handover of goods was a five-hour trek from the town proper, here.

He said the suspects must have had a lookout, who spotted the operatives from the distance and signaled the suspects to pull out from the area.