Drug syndicates now into kidnap for ransom, says Duterte

President Rodrigo Duterte —PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said drug syndicates had shifted to kidnap-for-ransom activities because of his administration’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.

“There’s a very low supply of drugs now, nag-shift na sila sa kidnapping,” Duterte said during his speech at the regional convention of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) in Manila.

The President said six kidnapping activities had been recorded in Binondo, a known Chinese community in Manila, in the last three weeks.

He said his no-nonsense war against illegal drugs would not stop until the last drug lord was dead.

“I want to see users, pushers out of the street and all the drug lords killed,” he said.

As of Oct. 26, records from the Philippine national Police showed that 1,725 alleged drug personalities had been killed, 31,629 arrested and 751,703 surrendered.