Close to P900-M worth of illegal drugs seized in 2 weeks- Año
By Chito Chavez
Government anti-narcotics operatives a seized a total of P897,013,041 worth of shabu and marijuana in a span of two weeks, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año reported to President Duterte on Monday night, June 6.
In a Cabinet briefing, Año confirmed that teams from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and other concerned agencies had conducted between six to eight buy-bust operations daily.
“So sana po sa susunod na administrasyon ang ating kampanya laban sa iligal na droga ay tuloy-tuloy po dahil nakikita po natin na talagang laganap pa rin ang mga ginagawang drug operation (in the country) ng mga drug syndicate (I hope that the next administration will continue our campaign against illegal drugs since it is obvious that the drug syndicates have relentlessly conducted their widespread drug operation),’’ Año said.
He told the President that the country’s law enforcement agencies have remained vigilant in continuing the administration’s all-out war against illegal drugs.
In the past two weeks, Año noted that anti-narcotics teams 2,463 were nabbed in he 1,772 anti-drug operations with four recorded deaths and 69 others opting to surrender.
With Año’s anti-illegal drug report, President Duterte cited the ‘corrosive’ influence of illegal drugs citing that the apprehension of drug personalities and confiscation of prohibited drugs continues ‘until now’ in different places.
“I suppose and there is still a supply (of illegal drugs) na hindi natin alam kung saan (we do not know where it comes from),’’ the President said.
The President noted that the almost P12 billion worth of illegal drugs seized ‘the last time was scary’ with 1.6 tons of prohibited drugs confiscated by government forces.
He admitted that these incidents ‘worries me’ stressing that larger volumes of prohibited drugs are confiscated despite his repeated warnings.
As an outgoing President, Duterte confessed of being scared “because of the penchant of people really to do drugs because of the money.’’