Gordon wants PDEA to target big-time drug smugglers

Sen. Richard Gordon. INQUIRER.net file photo / CATHY MIRANDA

Senator Richard Gordon wants the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to target not just drug peddlers in the streets but also those who smuggle illegal drugs through the country’s “gates.”

“Hindi ba dapat tirahin natin pareho [Should we not hit both]?” Gordon said in a Senate hearing, lamenting that authorities only seem to have targeted drug personalities in the county’s slum areas.

Gordon, chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, made the suggestion as he led the hearing on the alleged P6.8-billion worth of “shabu” that slipped past the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

According to PDEA chief Director General Aaron Aquino, Manila and the “backdoors” of Mindanao are the hotbeds of illegal drug shipment from other countries.

“Malapit lang kasi ang Malaysia diyan kaya… mabilis lang ang pasok [Malaysia is just near those areas, so the shipment is just easy],” he said.

The PDEA earlier noted that the drugs that were allegedly sourced from Taiwan had Malaysia as its trans-shipping point.

Gordon, meanwhile, said the Senate will support the procurement of better x-ray machines for the BOC to aid its detection of illegal drugs being shipped into the country.

“Talagang we will support you with the x-ray, pero kailangan may mahuli diyan [We will really support you with the x-ray, but you have to capture somebody],” he said.

Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña thanked the senator, although BOC officials insisted that the x-ray scan and the swab test confirm the absence of “shabu” in the magnetic lifters found in Cavite.

PDEA earlier claimed these magnetic lifters contained the P6.8 billion-worth of illegal drugs that could have been out of the market. /jpv

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