PNP: 15,205 arrested for drugs in 2013

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 15,205 persons, including 11 Chinese, were arrested last year by the Philippine National Police in its anti-illegal drug operations, according to the PNP’s 2013 accomplishment report.

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima vowed to closely cooperate with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the lead agency in the campaign against illegal drugs.

He said among the PNP’s accomplishments include the seizure of controlled precursors and essential chemicals and illegal drugs with an estimated street value of P3.6 billion.

Police officers arrested 11 Chinese, six Filipinos and two Filipino-Chinese involved in the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs, the PNP reported.

The PNP staged a total of 9,273 anti-drug operations ranging from buy-busts, house raids, searches, and marijuana plantation eradications during the year and filed 11,947 cases in court.

Authorities seized 84 kilos of shabu with a street value of P420 million in Batangas in December 2013 and arrested three suspects said to be linked to the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel

Last Friday, the PNP Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Force arrested four persons in Parañaque caught transporting some 200 kilos of shabu with a street value of P1 billion.