Manila, Oct. 6, (dpa/GNA) – Philippine law enforcers are under orders to destroy all confiscated illegal drugs by next week, in a bid to stop the contraband from being resold, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesperson said on Tuesday.
In a late-night address to the public, Duterte said the government should only keep a small amount to use as evidence against illegal drug suspects, and not be burdened by storing all the confiscated illegal drugs.
“The president ordered that the destruction of all confiscated shabu and those being stored as evidence against drug personalities,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said. “The president gave a one-week deadline for this.”
Roque noted that the Supreme Court allows the destruction of confiscated illegal drugs after an inventory is conducted for evidence.
“The judiciary and the president agree that all illegal drugs should be destroyed because these might be resold,” he added.
According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), it can destroy “more or less 1 ton of shabu next week.”
Shabu, the most popular drug in the Philippines, is the local name for methamphetamine.
Since 2016, when Duterte became president and launched a crackdown on illegal drugs, law enforcers have seized more than 7,000 kilograms of shabu, with a street value of 53 billion pesos (1.1 billion dollars).
Other illegal drugs that have been seized include cocaine, marijuana and party drugs.
More than 5,800 suspects in illegal drug cases have been killed in police operations during Duterte’s war on drugs. Human rights group allege that the death toll could be triple that number, due to killings also carried out by vigilantes or hired assassins.
