National Police chief General Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar ordered on Monday all chiefs of police to update the list of priority targets in their areas following the order of President Duterte to the Philippine National Police (PNP) to further step up the campaign against illegal drugs.
“Based on the order of President Duterte through our SILG [Secretary, Interior and Local Government] Eduardo Año, I have ordered all chiefs of police to update their priority targets, especially on those selling illegal drugs in their areas,” he said.
Eleazar said the confiscation of some 809 kilos of shabu last week in Zambales, Bataan and Cavite indicated that illegal drugs syndicates are still operating in the country, and this means they are getting help from drug pushers in the communities.
“The confiscation of more or less 809 kilos of shabu last week is proof that illegal drug syndicates still have a market in the country and that is the reason why we need to further step up our campaign down to the community level, with the distributors or the sellers as the priority targets,” he said.
Six big-time drug traffickers died during the operations in Zambales where 500 kilos of shabu were seized and in Bacoor in Cavite where 181 kilos of shabu were confiscated.
The fatalities include Xu Youhua, who was tagged as the local contact of an international drugs syndicate in the country and Bashar Bangon, who was tagged as the key player in illegal drugs distribution in Metro Manila and Calabarzon.
Five more big-time drug traffickers were arrested in Bataan and in Imus City in Cavite.
More or less 809 kilos of shabu worth more than P5.5 billion were seized in the four separate operations last week, the biggest drug haul in the campaign against illegal drugs in the country so far this year.
Eleazar assured that the renewed campaign against illegal drugs would go hand in hand with the intensified efforts to run after policemen who are involved in the illegal drugs trade.
Last week, a policeman assigned in Tarlac City was arrested during a buy-bust. He was tagged as the protector and financier of some drug pushers in Tarlac.