Pubdate: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 Source: Manila Times (Philippines) Copyright: 2005, The Manila Times Contact: http://www.manilatimes.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/921 Author: AP Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Philippines 9 INT'L DRUG SYNDICATES OPERATE IN RP-PDEA Authorities have identified nine international drug syndicates in the country, where trafficking in the last three years is estimated to have earned P300 billion, officials said Monday. The Drug Enforcement Agency chief, Anselmo Avenido Jr., said that since 2002, law-enforcement officials have seized P40-billion worth of illegal drugs and dismantled 32 laboratories making methampethamine hydrochloride, also known as shabu. At the same time, illicit drugs worth an estimated P260 billion remain unaccounted for and may have already been shipped abroad, said Interior Un-dersecretary Wencelito Andanar, in charge of transnational crime. Foreigners from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Malaysia are suspected of running the syndicates with local contacts, Avenido said. "In almost all the shabu laboratories, we see the participation of foreigners," Avenido said, noting their work as chemists and shabu cooks. Official records show nearly 92,000 drug violators-including 174 foreigners-were arrested from 2002 to May this year, and 61,617 drug cases were filed in court. The problem is so pervasive that 70 percent of all detainees and prisoners are in jail for drug-related cases, he said. Rep. Roque Ablan of Ilocos Norte, chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said foreign syndicates were attracted to the country because it is cheaper to manufacture drugs here. Also, suspects seem to have no problem escaping, and no convicted drug trafficker has been put to death despite the mandatory capital punishment, Ablan said. He said he was looking into reports that a poor farmer from China was able to take the place of a Chinese drug lord on death row. He didn't offer details. Ablan has urged legislators to petition President Arroyo to "shoot dead convicted drug pushers." "You have to show the people that you mean business," he said. Ablan said Hong Kong Solicitor General Wayne Walsh has assured him that a suspected Chinese drug lord who ran a shabu laboratory in the Philippines but was arrested in Hong Kong may be turned over to Manila authorities by next month. Walsh, however, said the Philippines must pledge that the drug lord will not be sentenced to death, Ablan said. The last execution in the country took place in January 2000. - ---