THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) will create an inter-agency task force that will closely watch private airstrips and ports across the country to prevent smuggling of illegal drugs.
PDEA Director Aaron Aquino said there are at least 1,200 private ports across the country.
“International drug syndicates are capable of using private aircraft, including helicopters and seaplanes, and boats and yachts as modes of transportation to fly and land drug contraband using these privately-owned facilities,” Aquino said in a statement on Friday, June 21.
He said he brought up the creation of the task force during the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) Enforcement Cluster Meeting held on June 18 at the PDEA national headquarters in Quezon City.
The task force will be composed of PDEA, Philippine National Police (PNP) – Maritime Group, PNP Aviation Security Group, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Bureau of Immigration (BI), Philippine Navy (PN), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), Office for Transportation Security (OTS), and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
Aquino said the inter-agency drug interdiction task group will synchronize efforts in sealing off possible smuggling points in the country, particularly the privately-run airstrips, heliports, and seaports.
“Before, drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) are shipping tons of illegal drugs, either finished products or raw materials, through shipside smuggling in the high seas, airports and seaports. But now, they have included in their itineraries unmanned landing strips and private ports as drug transit routes,” Aquino said.
“Airstrips have no airport facilities that is why proper documentation of the name of the arriving passenger/s, cargo details, among others, remains a problem. There is also a possibility that foreign chemists flew in and out of the country via the backdoor using the runways and open seas,” he added.
To curb drug smuggling through the ports and high seas, PDEA has established seaport interdiction units assigned in 13 key seaports nationwide, and has entered into agreements with the PPA, PCG and Marina, which empowered the inspection of all maritime transportation in the country’s 1,200 private seaports.
“We are dealing the problem on drug smuggling by covering every possible trafficking routes and patterns: by land, air and sea.,” said Aquino. (SunStar Philippines)