EDITORIAL - Drugs and smuggling

The drug war is going big-time, with anti-narcotics agents killing the suspected operator of a shabu manufacturing facility in Valenzuela. Police raiders said Chinese national Meco Tan was shot dead when he tried to flee in his car during yesterday’s early morning raid.

Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa warned that more large-scale drug traffickers would fall in the coming days, amid observations that the drug war has so far focused only on small-scale and mostly low-income street pushers and impoverished drug users.

Video footage of yesterday’s raid showed sacks of suspected shabu precursors and the finished product piled high at Tan’s home, which also allegedly served as his laboratory. With the large amount of substances found in that raid, authorities should complement the drug war with tighter controls on the supply of precursors for prohibited drugs.

The government must be as tough on smugglers as it is on drug pushers. The two criminal activities feed on each other, and most drug traffickers are engaged in both. In certain cases, prohibited drugs and precursors are reportedly transferred by traffickers from ships in the high seas to smaller vessels, which bring the substances to ports or coastal communities where they enjoy the protection of local government, ports or law enforcement personnel.

Several precursors of prohibited drugs are not banned, but their supply can be monitored and better regulated. Close monitoring of the supply chain can help anti-narcotics agents zero in on potential drug manufacturers and traffickers.

Apart from abetting the drug menace, smuggling is bad news for the economy, discouraging fair competition and therefore investments. The business community has not stopped complaining about rampant smuggling, which prospers because of corruption and protection provided by influential individuals.

President Duterte has vowed to “really level the playing field” for business. Making good on his promise inherently involves a crackdown on smuggling. And if he wants to sustain the gains in his brutal war on drugs, among the targets must be smugglers and their coddlers.