2 killed, 82 nabbed in New Year drug drive

MANILA, Philippines – Two people were killed while 82 others were arrested as the Philippine National Police (PNP) continued to conduct operations against illegal drugs during the last few hours of 2016 and on New Year’s Day.

The PNP National Operations Center reported that it conducted 49 operations against illegal drugs in 18 regions of the country.

A total of 3,977 drug personalities have surrendered after cops visited 8,344 houses as part of the Project Double Barrel Alpha drive, the PNP NOC said.

The PNP said there were a total of 74,944 drug pushers and 936,186 users who surrendered from July 1 to Dec. 31.

Earlier, the PNP reported that it had accounted for 70 percent of 1.8 million personalities in its drug watch list based on the official record of the Dangerous Drugs Board.

President Duterte had claimed that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reported some three to four million drug users in the country.

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa clarified that the 1.8 million figure being used by the PNP is based on DDB records culled in 2010, only half the number of addicts claimed by Duterte.

Dela Rosa, however, said the PNP is not contradicting the President that there are four million addicts.

“We just used as basis the records produced by DDB in 2010 survey that there were 1.8 million drug personalities in the country.

“(But) we are victorious in the drug war. We did it, 70 percent of 1.8 million is 1,260,000, ” Dela Rosa said.

The PNP Directorate for Operations reported that the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Campaign Plan dubbed Project: Double Barrel Alpha has accounted for and recorded a total of 1,326,472 individuals who were involved in illegal drugs from July 1 to Dec. 22.