PDEA: Almost 5,000 killed in gov’t drug war as of Sept.

Almost 5,000 drug personalities have died in police operations since July 2016, the latest data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) released on Tuesday showed.

Records from the PDEA showed that over a two-year period from July 2016 to September 2018, some 4,948 drug suspects were killed while 158,424 persons were arrested in 110,395 anti-drug operations.

Authorities also confiscated over P25-billion worth of illegal drugs, chemicals, and laboratory equipment from police operations. Of the total value, P18.27-billion worth of “shabu” were recovered.

PDEA said 255 drug dens and laboratories in the country were busted during the same period.

According to the agency, the most common entry points of smuggled “shabu” are coastlines, airports, seaports, and malls and parcels.

PDEA further said that the police had arrested 582 government workers, including 250 elected officials, 270 government employees, and 60 uniformed personnel.

Records also show that 8,766 barangays have been declared drug-free since 2016. However, a total of 23,262 barangays have yet to be cleared by the agency.

PDEA said 286 government law enforcers were dismissed for drug use, while another 105 were dismissed due to other drug-related offenses in two years. /ee/ac