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Monday, September 20, 2004
26 drug syndicates in Central Visayas
Central Visayas ranks second for having the most number of local organized drug groups in the country.
According to a recent study by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Region 7 has 26 local drug groups, second to Metro Manila with 38.
There had been 28 in their records, but two were reportedly neutralized recently.
Despite this, PDEA said it has not included Cebu as among the landing points for drugs in the country.
Cebu is also not in the official list of provinces reported to have a clandestine laboratory.
Also based on PDEA records, the country has 148 local illegal drug groups and nine transna-tional illegal drug groups.
In last Saturday’s public hearing before the House committee on dangerous drugs, PDEA Director Anselmo Avenido said the figures they presented were gathered last month yet.
There is an ongoing survey for the current number of drug users.
What Avenido presented instead was their most recent survey conducted in 1999 yet showing that there were 1.8 million regular drug users and 1.6 million occasional drug users in the country.
PDEA believes the figures are higher now.
PDEA also noted that the country has a growing number of laboratories, mostly in Manila and its neighboring provinces.
Avenido said this was due to the simple processing of ephedrine into shabu, the massive crackdown of laboratories in China and the lesser charge of trafficking of precursors as opposed to the final product, shabu.
He pointed out that in Cebu, 60 drums of pseudoephedrine imported from China were confiscated at the Cebu International Port last March.
Aside from China, they also noted that India was also a good source of shabu precursors. MEA
(September 20, 2004 issue)
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