Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Police Gen. Guillermo Eleazar ordered on Monday (Sept. 13), all chiefs of police to update the list of the priority targets following the order of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to further step up the campaign against illegal drugs.
Eleazar said that the confiscation of more or less 809 kilos of shabu last week in Zambales, Bataan, and Cavite operations indicates that the illegal drugs syndicates are still operating in the country and this means that they are getting help from drug pushers in the communities.
“Batay na rin sa kautusan ng ating Pangulong Duterte through our DILG Eduardo Año, inatasan ko na ang lahat ng chief of police na i-update ang kani-kanilang priority targets lalo na ang mga nagbebenta ng iligal na droga sa kani-kanilang lugar,” the PNP Chief said.
“The confiscation of more or less 809 kilos of shabu last week is proof that illegal drug syndicates still have a market in the country and that is the reason why we need to further step up our campaign down to the community level, with the distributors or the sellers as the priority targets,” he added.
Six big-time drug pushers died in the operations in Zambales where 500 kilos of shabu were seized and in Bacoor in Cavite where 181 kilos of shabu were confiscated. The fatalities include Xu Youhua who was tagged as the local contact of an international drugs syndicate in the country and Bashar Bangon who was tagged as the key player in illegal drugs distribution in Metro Manila and Calabarzon.
Five more big-time drug traffickers were arrested in Bataan and in Imus City in Cavite.
More or less 809 kilos of shabu worth more than P5.5 billion were seized in the four separate operations last week, the biggest drug haul in the campaign against illegal drugs in the country this year so far.
The PNP Chief said they are now working with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for the immediate destruction of the confiscated illegal drugs.
“Hindi nagpahinga ang mga sindikato ng droga kahit sa panahon ng pandemya kaya hinihikayat ko din ang ating mga stakeholders at community partners na tulungan kami sa laban na ito,” Eleazar said.
The Chief PNP, however, assured that the renewed campaign against illegal drugs comes with the intensified efforts to run after policemen who are involved in the illegal drugs trade.
Also last week, a policeman assigned in Tarlac City was arrested in a buy-bust. He was tagged as the protector and financier of some drug pushers in Tarlac. Eleazar vowed to dismiss him.
“Sa panig ng PNP, we assure our kababayan that we will not tolerate abuses and wrongdoings in our ranks in our aggressive campaign against illegal drugs just like what we have shown in the last five years when hundreds of our personnel were dismissed from the service for illegal drugs involvement,” the PNP Chief said. (PNP-PIO) -bny
