PDEA burns P808.13 M worth of illegal drugs

TRECE MARTIRES CITY — Importers, local manufacturers and sellers of chemicals which could also be used in the manufacture of dangerous drugs such as shabu have until the end of July to register and secure licenses.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) director-general Anselmo Avenido Jr. and Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr. announced this yesterday as they presided over the burning of P808.13 million worth of dangerous drugs at the thermal oxidation plant of the Integrated Waste Management Inc. here.

Destroyed were 403 kilograms of shabu and dried marijuana leaves, the bulk of which — 364 kilograms — were seized sfrom six Chinese drug traffickers led by Ng Yik Buns in Sariaya, Quezon in 2001.

Ng and his companions were meted life imprisonment by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Jaime Salazar last April.

Lina, concurrent chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board, said the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law or Republic Act 9165 provides that aside from manufacturers of chemical components of dangerous drugs, traders, distributors and importers must also secure permits to operate and licenses from the PDEA.

Some of the chemicals being used in the manufacture of dangerous drugs include ethyl, toluene, methyl ethelketone and acetone.

Yesterday’s burning of seized prohibited drugs was the eighth since July 30, 2002. — with Christina Mendez