MANILA: Anti-narcotics agencies have intensified their cooperation not only among themselves but also with foreign counterparts, a move to ensure the country not to be a regional centre of illegal drug trade, a senior government official said yesterday.
Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte made the statement after the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) was recently informed by the United States that the Philippines could become a centre for drug trade by Mexicans who were planning to smuggle illegal drugs in Asian countries.
“You know we’ve always said that we don’t want the country as a haven for anything illegal,” she said in a news briefing in Malacanang, the presidential palace.
She noted that the PDEA, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are now cooperating with the international law enforcement agencies to confiscate any illegal contraband that reaches the Philippine shore and to prevent the production of illegal drugs here.
Valte acknowledged that with more than 7,100 islands, it is indeed a challenge for law enforcement agencies to guard against the possible entry of illegal drugs into the country.
“But apart from the geographical location, it is actually more (of a challenge) also of the batting average at least when it comes to convictions, and we hope to improve that,” she said.
On last Christmas Day, law enforcers raided a ranch in Batangas where they seized 84 kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu with an estimated value of P420m (about $0.95m).
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