High-value drug targets now in the crosshairs of new PNP chief

Newly designated PNP chief Lt. Gen. Camilo Cascolan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JAM STA. ROSA

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) will be training its sights on high-value targets, as newly-designated PNP chief Lt. Gen. Camilo Cascolan vowed on Wednesday to hunt down big-time drug personalities in an intensified anti-drugs campaign.

“Ating pai-igtingin ang anti-drug campaign po natin, atin pong titignan ang mga high value individuals na sila ay makukuha mismo at sila ay maaaresto,” Cascolan told ABS-CBN Teleradyo when sought for comment about the bloody drug war policies in the PNP.

(We will boost our anti-drugs campaign, we will see the high value individuals will be tracked down and arrested.)

“Ang case buildup po ay hindi lang ho dapat sa maliliit, kailangan po natin ng kooperasyon ng mga tao para makuha ang mga high value na individual,” he added.

(Our case buildup will not only be against small-time pushers, we need people’s cooperation to arrest individuals who are high-value [targets].)

Cascolan said they will use the small-time drug pushers’ information to eventually arrest the high-value targets.

“Sa anti-drug campaign, we will see to it, we will build up cases against high-value targets. May mga huli huli kaming maliliit na tao pero as much as possible gagamitin po natin sila para mahuli ang malalaking isda,” he said.

(For the anti-drug campaign, we will see to it, we will build up cases against high value targets. We arrest small-time pushers but as much as possible we will use them to arrest big-time drug traffickers.)

Latest data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) showed that 5,722 drug suspects were killed since the government’s bloody drug war was launched in July 2016. PDEA also arrested 245,135 drug suspects including 9,350 high-value targets during 168,525 anti-illegal drug operations.

JPV