Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), ordered on Monday, Sept. 13, all chiefs of police to update their respective lists of priority targets in compliance with President Duterte's order to further step up the campaign against illegal drugs.
“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,” said Eleazar.
He was referring to illegal drugs operations in Zambales, Bataan and Cavite last week wherein more or less 809 kilos of shabu worth more than P5.5 billion were seized and 11 big-time drug traffickers were either killed or arrested.
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.
Eleazar said they are now working with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for the immediate destruction of the confiscated illegal drugs.
He, 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. PGen Eleazar vowed to dismiss him.
“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,” said Eleazar.