PDEA TORCHES P808-M DRUGS

PHILIPPINE Drug Enforcement Agency officials yesterday burned P808 million
worth of drugs, most of them shabu, seized from Chinese operators of drug
laboratories in the country.

PDEA chair Undersecretary Anselmo S. Avenido Jr. said the burning of the
drugs was the eighth time a big volume of confiscated or surrendered drugs
was destroyed under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs
Act of 2002.

The drugs composed of 403,412,790 grams of shabu worth P86,825,580 and
6,967.21 grams of marijuana worth P1,393,442.40 were destroyed at the
Integrated Waste Management Facility in Barangay Aguado, Trece Martires City
in Cavite.

Avenido said 39,355.79 grams of the destroyed shabu were confiscated by the
PDEA while the rest were recovered by Philippine National Police agents and
placed under the safekeeping of the Crime Laboratory Group.

Avenido said the destroyed drugs cover 199 cases - 198 from the PDEA and one
from the Crime Lab.

The burning of the drugs, Avenido said, "meant to show the public that the
government has a built-in process of disposing confiscated, seized or
surrendered dangerous drugs to erase their perception that these are being
recycled or sold back on the streets."

Meanwhile, drugs in small volumes are destroyed right away on orders of
the concerned courts, Avenido said. Shabu are dissolved in water and
flushed in toilet bowls while marijuana leaves, plants and seedlings are
burned on site, he added. He said the PDEA had burned P5.5 billion worth of
dangerous drugs involved in 2,742 cases across the country since October
2002.

Avenido said the burning of confiscated, seized or surrendered dangerous
drugs is being done once a week or as often as necessary depending on court
orders and the accumulated weight of drugs in compliance with President
Macapagal-Arroyo's directive.

The first burning of drugs worth P412, 400,000 was done last Oct. 10, 2002
at the Integrated Waste Management Facility in Barangay Puting Lupa, Calamba
City, Laguna.. The second up to the seventh burning were all done in Trece
Martires, Cavite.