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369-mln-dollar worth illegal drugs seized in Philippines in 2016

Xinhua, January 6, 2017 Adjust font size:

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war against illegal drugs has resulted in a significant increase in the confiscation of dangerous drugs in 2016, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said Friday.

For 2016, the total value of dangerous drugs and controlled precursors and essential chemicals seized amounted to 18.27 billion pesos (368.86 million U.S. dollars), 238.3 percent increase compared to the preceding year, said PDEA Director General Isidro S. Lapena.

"Among the pieces of drug evidence confiscated during the period were 2,494.56 kilos, or 12.8 billion pesos (258.42 million million U.S. dollars) worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, four times more than the shabu seizures in 2015 and even bested the combined output of 2,264 kilos of shabu seized in the last five years," He said, adding that shabu was the primary drug of choice among abusers in the country.

Lapena said PDEA, with the support of the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Customs and other law enforcement agencies, have conducted a total of 32,245 anti-drug operations, 304 of these are high-impact operations, from January 1 to December 31, 2016.

"This is 29 percent more than the operations conducted in 2015. As a result of the increase, the number of drug personalities arrested also rose from 44 percent from 19,432 in 2015 to 27,962 in 2016," said Lapena, adding that the number of operations conducted and arrests in 2016 were all-time high.

Of the total arrested drug offenders, 1,900 are high-value targets composed of 112 foreign nationals, 88 elected officials, 36 law enforcers, 95 government employees, 98 drug group members, 22 armed drug group members, 226 drug den maintainers, 67 wanted-listed, 12 target-listed and others numbering to 1,148.

When Duterte assumed the presidency on June 30, 2016, he declared a war against illegal drugs. Endit