Arrests of ‘big fish’ in drug trade up by 30% in 2015 – PDEA

PDEA Director General Arturo Cacdac Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) made more “significant dents” in 2015 against the illegal drug trade by going after the big fish.

In a statement on Monday, the PDEA announced that for 2015, the number of arrested “high-value targets” (HVTs) increased by 30 percent—from 1,402 individuals in 2014, to 1,821 in 2015.

The PDEA described “high-value” targets as being government employees, elected officials, law enforcers, foreign nationals or well-known personalities involved in the illegal drug trade, or notorious drug group members, armed drug group members, and wanted criminals.

Of the arrested HVTs in 2015, 248 were drug den owners, 103 were government employees, 102 were leaders of members of known drug groups, 63 were elected officials, 47 were wanted suspects, 37 were foreign nationals, 31 were law enforcers, and 10 were members of an armed group.

The PDEA added they were able to arrest 571 drug suspects during “high-impact operations,” such as the dismantling of “shabu” laboratories, drug dens, warehouses and “tiangges,” or operations where a huge quantity of narcotics were seized.

In 2015, PDEA and other law enforcement agencies conducted a total of 289 high-impact operations, dismantling two “shabu” laboratories, a “shabu” warehouse, 75 drug dens, two “shabu” tiangges and three marijuana facilities.

The focus on “high-value targets” and “high-impact operations” is meant to make “significant dents against the country’s illegal drug trade,” according to PDEA director general Arturo Cacdac Jr.

Cacdac noted that as a whole, narcotics agencies posted a significant increase in anti-drug accomplishments for 2015.

From January to December, the PDEA, in coordination with other law enforcement agencies, conducted a total of 24,462 anti-drug operations that led to the arrest of 19,406 drug trade suspects.

“This is 44.4 percent more than the operations conducted in 2014. As a result of the increase, the number of arrested drug offenders likewise rose by 40.7 percent from 13,792 in 2014 to 19,406 in 2015,” Cacdac said.  SFM