PDEA: Drug syndicates use ‘dark web,’ bitcoin

MANILA, Philippines — The administration’s war on drugs has entered a new phase as syndicates resort to innovations to avoid detection, such as transacting through the so-called dark web and using bitcoins, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said yesterday.

The dark web is a collection of websites that exist on an encrypted network and cannot be found or visited by just using traditional search engines or browsers.

“We are definitely winning the war on drugs, but the syndicates are also finding ways to innovate. We recently discovered that most of the organized criminal syndicates are into it (dark web) so we have to catch up with them,” PDEA director general Aaron Aquino said at a forum in Manila.

He said the new scheme has made it easier for buyers to transact with drug suppliers through the internet and has even made possible the delivery of drugs right to the doorsteps of buyers via courier.

Aquino said PDEA is sending 30 of its personnel to train in South Korea so it would be able to deal with the drug syndicates’ growing sophistication in dealing with clients and avoiding detection.

He said PDEA had considered training with US and Australia, “but only South Korea, so far, has the appropriate knowledge and training for that purpose.”

He also revealed that one of the local drug personalities known to have extensively used dark web and bitcoin was John Steven Pasion, who died in March in an encounter with PDEA agents at the parking lot of Amaia Skies Condominium in Sta. Cruz in Manila.

He allegedly shot it out with combined operatives of PDEA and the National Capital Region Police Office-Drug Enforcement Unit who came to serve an arrest warrant issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 106 Judge Angelene Mary Quimpo Sale.

Aquino said drug traders had already abandoned transacting with buyers through Facebook.

Meanwhile, the PDEA chief named the Mexico drug cartel, African drug cartel, China gang and Golden Triangle as the four biggest importers of illegal drugs in the country.

He said the international syndicates are using several Southeast Asian countries as takeoff points and some of the biggest drug hauls came from Myanmar.