PDEA destroys P6B worth of illegal drugs in Cavite

Boxes of illegal drugs earlier presented by PDEA before it was destroyed on Thursday, July 4, 2019, at the Integrated Waste Management Inc. facility in Cavite. (Photo from PDEA)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has destroyed some P6 billion worth of illegal drugs, including the blocks of cocaine recovered from the waters of the country’s eastern seaboard.

PDEA razed the illegal drugs on Thursday at a waste management facility in Cavite.

“We want the public to witness the destruction of drug evidence seized by drug enforcement officers in order to dispel the public notion that these illicit items are being reused, recycled or sold back in the streets,” PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said in a statement.

Aquino, who led the activity, noted the pieces of evidence were no longer needed in court.

He said those destroyed at the Integrated Waste Management Inc. in Barangay Aguado, Trece Martirez City were 1.41 tons of “shabu,” marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, ephedrine, ketamine, pseudoephedrine, chloroephedrine, diazepam, nitrazepam, zolpidem, temazepam, clonazepam, alprazolam, methylphenidate, dimethylamphetamine, and expired medicines; and 598 milliliters of liquid shabu, 1,126.20 milliliters of gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), and 104.43 milliliters of lidocaine.

The PDEA chief said the bulk of the destroyed illegal drugs were the 276 blocks of cocaine, weighing 331 kilograms and estimated to have a street value of P2.25 billion.

These blocks were either discovered floating in the waters of or recovered in the shorelines of Nueva Ecija, Aurora, Quezon, Camarines Norte, Catanduanes, Albay, Sorsogon, Davao Oriental, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, and Dinagat Islands.

Boxes of illegal drugs earlier presented by PDEA before it was destroyed on Thursday, July 4, 2019, at the Integrated Waste Management Inc. facility in Cavite. (Photo from PDEA)

According to Aquino, the illegal drugs were destroyed through thermal decomposition or thermolysis, or the method of breaking down chemical by heat.

He said that at 1,000 degrees Centigrade, all dangerous drugs are totally destroyed.

He added that the destruction of the dangerous drugs is in compliance with the guidelines set on the custody and disposition of seized illegal drugs required under Section 21, Article II of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002; and Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation No. 1, Series of 2002.

Aquino said this is the seventh destruction of dangerous drugs since he became chief of the anti-narcotics agency that leads the government’s campaign against drugs.

He said that from July 2016 until June 2019, a total of 6.62 tons and 5,610.32 liters of dangerous drugs worth P28.03 billion have already been destroyed, representing 48.64 percent of all illegal drugs destroyed in the last decade.

Since 2008, PDEA had destroyed 21.03 tons of solid illegal drugs, and 6,022.15 liters of liquid illegal drugs worth P52.75 billion, according to Aquino. (Editor: Katherine G. Adraneda)