PNP: 2,500 drug suspects nabbed this month

MANILA, Philippines — More than 2,500 drug suspects have been arrested by anti-narcotics operatives since the start of the year, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported yesterday.

PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin said police have conducted 1,831 stings as of Jan. 16.

A total of 2,518 drug suspects were apprehended during the operations.

Of the number, 146 were high-value drug suspects.

“The PNP is off to a strong start in the campaign against illegal drugs,” Azurin told reporters. “Police are hitting hard on major drug rings.”

Philipines crimes drop

Meanwhile, the number of crimes decreased by more than 23 percent in the first three weeks of January.

Azurin said crimes recorded nationwide dropped to 8,391 from 10,991 cases posted during the same period last year.

PNP data showed that cases of index crimes such as murder, homicide, physical injury and car theft also went down from 2,250 to 1,576.

There was also a decrease in the number of focus crimes from 2,234 to 1,567, or a drop of 29.96 percent.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recently signed a declaration of cooperation on health, illicit drugs, counterterrorism, transnational organized crimes, corruption, human rights and criminal justice.

The UNODC donated to the PDEA 35 tablet computers containing 80 training modules on human rights-based approaches against drugs.

“These portable devices will boost the training capabilities of our anti-narcotics agents responsible for the recruitment and training of future PDEA personnel,” the agency said.