EPD downplays PDEA report on West Crame drug problem

The Eastern Police District (EPD) said yesterday it will conduct saturation drives in a San Juan City barangay where drug peddling and abuse is “alarming,” according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

EPD director Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz said the drug problem at Barangay West Crame, which is located near the national headquarters of the Philippine National Police, is not as big as PDEA claims.

“It has not reached a point that there is already a shabu tiangge (flea market) there,” De la Cruz told The STAR.

The EPD chief said his anti-drug units are not remiss in their duties in the campaign against drug peddlers and users not only in Barangay West Crame but in other areas of eastern Metro Manila.

Earlier, Derrick Arnold Carreon, chief of PDEA’s public information office, said that based on information gathered by the agency, Barangay West Crame, is “severely affected” by drug-related activities.

“Majority of the residents are involved in either drug-peddling or drug use,” Carreon said.

Last Wednesday, the PDEA raided a drug den allegedly run by a “father and son tandem” and seized several sachets of shabu.

De la Cruz said they will invite the PDEA for a joint anti-drug operation in Barangay West Crame. “Our priority targets would be those included in the watch list of drug personalities in the said barangay,” he said. – Non Alquitran