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.
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