Manila: President Rodrigo Duterte and his police chief said that Chinese drug lords have been entering and operating in the Philippines with the assistance of top government and community leaders.
“I have to invade a country to arrest the (big) drug lords. I will not name the country, but obviously, it is known to you,” said Duterte in a speech at a biomass power plant in Buluan, southern Philippines.
“Foreign drug syndicates are outside the country. They are using technology with a big map of the Philippines to locate where to drop drugs. Big (drug) bosses or (drug) generals are not here. Those who are arrested in the Philippines are just lieutenants,” said Duterte.
Meanwhile, suspected drug lord Meco Tan, a Chinese national, died while escaping members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) who were to serve him a warrant of arrest at Willex Compound on Pinagbayanan Street in Lingunan village, northern suburban Bulacan, at dawn of July 22. He died when he slammed his car into a kerb, said Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director Lapeña, adding that packs of suspected shabu were seized from Tan.
Warehouse owner Henry Co and five Chinese workers were arrested for questioning. They did not know Tan, a worker claimed, adding that policemen found titanium dioxide, a chemical used to clean plastic, in the warehouse which Co began to operate two years ago, said Lapeña’s report.
In reaction, PNP Chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa said, “We finally found a Chinese drug lord. He is big. More Chinese (drug lords) will be arrested (or killed). Drug lords from China can enter the Philippines because of the growing number of facilitators from the government or from communities who cover up illegal drug trade in the Philippines.”
“Drug lords are hard to encounter. They hangout in high-end casinos, enjoy life in high-end hotels. They are hard to find. Our policemen are barred from hanging out in gambling places, they hardly encounter drug lords. Now that we’ve encountered them (drug lords), they’re dead,” Dela Rosa explained.
Tan had escaped when Jackson Dy, a drug lord, was arrested and jailed during a raid which resulted in the seizure of 600 kilograms of shabu from a shabu laboratory in NAIC, southern suburban Cavite, in 2003, said PNP’s Metro Manila spokesperson Chief Inspector Kimberly Molitas.
Tan was the alleged operator of a shabu laboratory on Scout Chuatoco in suburban Quezon City, where 70kg of shabu and 3,500kg of ephedrine, a key ingredient in the manufacture of shabu, were confiscated, Molitas added.
As of July 18, 312 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since May 10 (after the May 9 presidential election).
About 2,789 suspected drug pushers and users were arrested; and 114,833 more have voluntarily given themselves in to authorities since May 10.
The Drug Enforcement Agency placed at 3.7 million the number of drug users and pushers in the country as of 2015.
Duterte threatened to kill Cebu-based and suspected drug lord and Chinese businessman Peter Lim who surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation on Thursday. Duterte identified two top drug lords among 19 convicted drug lords whom he alleged to have continued their operation at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP). Duterte had publicly named and shamed five police generals as drug protectors. He also threatened to name 23 elected local government leaders who are engaged in illegal drug trade.
On Wednesday, the justice department deployed 320 elite Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police to secure the prison, while 200 prison employees began jail management and security training for reassignment at six other prison facilities nationwide.
Illegal drug trade in the Philippines reached $8.3 billion in 2013, according to PDEA.
