Illegal drug trade still thriving amid lockdown

By Jennifer P. Rendon 

No amount of community lockdowns can hamper drug peddlers from carrying out their trade.

In fact, the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) believes that some drug personalities took advantage of the situation.

But many of these illegal drug activities did not escape the police’s attention.

Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, Western Visayas police chief, said that P7 million worth of illegal drugs were seized in 189 police operations from March 17 to June 12, 2020.

The operations also led to the arrest of 263 drug personalities while one died in police operations.

A total of 165 cases were also filed in court.

Pamuspusan said that illegal drug traders have many ways and means to go on with their illegal activities.

“And we have to deal with these new modus operandis,” he said believing that these do not only happen in Western Visayas but in other parts of the country as well.

Despite the lockdown, “there were so many apprehensions and there were still so many confiscations. They did not stop. We are concerned that some might have taken advantage of the quarantine protocols in transporting illegal drugs,” he said.

But when asked on how these illegal drug personalities go about with their operations, “we still have no confirmatory report from our intelligence operatives,” Pamuspusan said.

What was apparent was that some illegal drugs personalities skirted quarantine control checkpoints and avoided patrols.

Pamuspusan said they are also validating reports on how illegal drugs supply sneak into the region.

It is also possible that the illegal drugs in the region were brought in before the lockdowns against the COVID-19 crisis.