PDEA seizes P5.27-B shabu in first quarter
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2019 06:47:09 +0000
AQUINO
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has seized 776.06 kilos of shabu worth P5.27 billion in the first quarter of 2019 which is the highest volume confiscated in the country’s drug law enforcement history.
PDEA Director General Aaron N. Aquino said the agency’s total haul for the first quarter of the year surpassed the combined seizure of 672.42 kilos of shabu worth P4.58 billion in the first quarters of 2009 to 2018 by 103.64 kilos worth P704,752,000.
“This is the highest recorded shabu seizure for the first three months of the year in PDEA history. It also more than doubled compared to the second highest first quarter seizure which was recorded in 2015 with 314.47 kilos worth P2.14 billion,” Aquino said.
Aquino said the record seizure of shabu during the period is the result of the series of bulk volume of shabu seizure in Cavite, Muntinlupa City, and Manila where a total of 716 kilos were seized worth billions of pesos.
He added the 2,034 anti-drug operations conducted and 2,818 drug personalities arrested by PDEA for the period are also the highest since 2009.
“This is an increase of 76.10 percent and 72.35 percent, respectively, compared to the same period in 2018,” Aquino said.
“These volume of seizures is an indication that we are conducting high-impact operation and hitting high-value targets,” he added.
The PDEA chief noted the agency remains focused in the implementation of anti-drug advocacies such as Balay Silangan for surrendered drug personalities and Sagip Batang Solvent for children hooked on illegal drugs.
Aquino also cited the strengthened cooperation, collaboration, and coordination by PDEA with foreign counterparts in the exchange of intelligence information.
However, critics insisted the entry of billions worth of illegal drugs only showed the Duterte administration’s failed campaign against illegal drugs.
But PDEA spokesperson Derrick Arnold Carreon thought otherwise, asserting the large volume of illegal drugs seized by PDEA and other anti-narcotics agencies is a testament of the country’s successful war on illegal drugs. (Chito Chavez)