PNP arrests 15,949 drug suspects Q1 2022; 31 dead

PNP Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City. (Photo from the PNP Facebook page)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP)  arrested a total of 15,949 suspected drug personalities during the first quarter of 2022, with 31 of the suspects killed in police operations.

The PNP issued a statement about this on Tuesday, citing its first-quarter 2022 assessment report from its Directorate for Operations.

The PNP also seized illegal substances with a total value of P1.63 billion in 12,858 operations conducted from Jan. 1, 2022 to March 31, 2022.

“As a result of these effort[s], 15,946 suspects were arrested while 31 died in police operations,” the PNP said. “During the same period, 288 members of organized crime groups were rounded up.”

In the same report, the PNP bared that it had also confiscated 1,476 firearms from crime groups, private armed groups, and local terrorist groups, with 2,542 individuals arrested in the campaign against loose firearms.

The PNP also arrested 17 suspects tagged as “most wanted with reward,” and 7,037 other “most wanted” suspects.

“Rounding up the data, police authorities accounted for 19,658 persons in the wanted list,” the PNP said.

Meanwhile, in terms of combating insurgency, the PNP reported that 1,235 members of local terrorists surrendered to authorities.

“The first quarter statistics are impressive. Considering the limitation[s] brought by the current pandemic, our PNP personnel took the challenge to step up police operations and carry on the brand of a working and active PNP organization. I congratulate [all the] hardworking men and women who made each operation successful,” the PNP chief, Gen. Dionardo Carlos, said in a statement.

Carlos also said that with the elections coming up it was “high time to build public’s confidence.”

“We elevate our vigilance since more areas may display election-related threats. Our purpose is to prevent violence from happening despite the heated competition among candidates,” Carlos said.

He reiterated that 16,820 PNP officers were currently undergoing career courses and field training programs in preparation for their deployment for election duties.

Carlos added that 1,160 members of the PNP NHQ Reactionary Standby Support Force (RSSF) had started a four-week training course that would end on April 29, just in time for the May 9 elections.

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