OPLAN Double Barrel, as the country’s war against drugs is officially called, has resulted in the killing of 1,645 drug suspects in police operations while 1,967 more drug-related deaths are under investigation since July 1, the Philippine National Police announced on Saturday.
The PNP said 29,331 drug suspects were arrested in 30,845 operations from July 1 to 6 a.m. of October 15 while 13 policemen were killed and 40 more wounded in anti-drugs operations. Three members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines were also killed in action while eight were wounded in anti-drug operations.
The PNP said a total of 744,916 drug personalities—54,229 pushers and 690,687 users —surrendered in 2,120,139 home visits under the Project Tokhang.
Meanwhile, the PNP said that it has subjected 156,286 policemen in random drug tests conducted from January 1 to 1:50 p.m. of October 12 and a total of 157 policemen and seven non-uniformed personnel tested positive for use of illegal drugs.
PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa had earlier claimed the Duterte administration is winning the war on drugs as evidenced by the price of shabu having gone up from P3,000 to P25,000 per gram due to scarcity of supply.
Dela Rosa said the supply of shabu in the market has been reduced by 70 to 80 percent and the price of shabu sold by street level pushers continued to rise.
In the past, authorities said a kilo of shabu cost P5 million. But based on Dela Rosa’s assessment, a kilo of shabu is currently valued at P25 million.
Various groups have criticized the government as bodies of drug suspects continued to pile up in the streets.
“It’s challenging. We need the support of the public in the campaign against illegal drugs. We cannot succeed without your help,” Dela Rosa said, adding that the drug war will continue until all barangays in the country are drug-free.