PHILIPPINES MAKES 600 DRUG ARRESTS

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Philippine police have arrested more than 600
suspected drug traffickers, including 21 foreigners, so far this year, and
are targeting syndicate heads in their latest crackdown, officials say.

Three of the suspects, including a Chinese citizen and a Philippine navy
sailor, were shot and killed by anti-narcotics agents in separate
gunfights, said police chief superintendent Reynaldo Acop.

Acop, chief of the National Police's anti-narcotics group, said in a report
obtained Sunday that most of those arrested were caught with the drug
methamphetamine hydrochloride, locally known as shabu, in quantities that
would qualify them for the death penalty if convicted.

He said most of the arrested foreigners were Chinese.

Acop said police were targeting leaders of drug syndicates in an effort to
weaken the gangs.

"There is no single approach that could save society from the cycle of drug
use," Acop said. "The strategy of demand reduction and supply reduction is
still our best approach to the drug problem."

Drug use has risen rapidly in the Philippines despite a law that provides
for the death penalty for possession of more than 200 grams (7 ounces) of
shabu or 40 grams (1.4 ounces) of cocaine, heroin, opium or morphine.

There are an estimated 1.7 million drug users in the Philippines, most of
them hooked on shabu, regarded as the "poor man's cocaine." The yearly
trade in drugs is estimated at $7.5 billion, officials said.

Acop said constant police and military action against traffickers has led
to a shortage of shabu in many provincial areas, causing a rise in the
prices of the banned drug.

He said more people were cooperating with authorities to break drug
syndicates. He cited the seizure of 534 pounds of illegal drugs worth $12.5
million in the northern Philippines in June due to tips provided by
fishermen used as couriers.

Police have charged four people, including one Taiwanese, linked to the
foiled smuggling of the drugs, the largest amount to be seized in the
Philippines this year.

New President Joseph Estrada has urged authorities to turn in a "big fish"
among the country's crime groups to prove that a government drive against
drug syndicates and corruption is real.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski