MANILA: The Philippine National Police (PNP) said here the other day that it arrested more than 11,000 people linked to illegal drug operations during the first quarter of 2016.
PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor said that authorities, with the help of other law enforcement agencies, nabbed a total of 11,405 people in its “One time, Big Time” (OTBT) operations and “Whole-of-Government” approach. Of which, 4,074 are drug users, 3,371 are drug pushers, and 146 are minors.
The OTBT operations were part of the PNP’s “Operation Lambat Sibat”, in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government’s anti-criminality campaign launched since mid-2014. The “Whole-of-Government” approach, on the other hand, is conducted under joint efforts of government offices to easily complete or accomplish a particular task.
Mayor said that the arrested individuals were apprehended through interdiction operations, serving of arrest warrants and search warrants, checkpoints, and other police operations from January to March.
Based on the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management report, most of the arrests were made by the Police Regional Office 4A (PRO 4A) with 2,695 individuals and P83,984,092 in total estimated value of drugs seized. On the other hand, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) got the largest total estimated value of drugs confiscated among all the 18 PROs at P663,598,544 with 1,458 individuals nabbed.
The PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group, in charge of targeting international and national drug personalities operating in the country, arrested 11 people and confiscated drugs worth P690,988,500.
The anti-illegal drugs operation resulted to the confiscation of an estimated P1,850,839,873 worth of drugs nationwide.
Mayor said that due to the rising number of individuals arrested, the number of inmates in PNP detention facilities is expected to increase that might lead to jail congestion. He said they need additional cells to house all apprehended wanted persons of the PNP-wide anti-criminality campaign.
