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Eleazar orders Maritime Group to step up patrols vs drug smuggling

September 14, 2021 Alfred P. Dalizon 508 views

PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief, General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar on Tuesday ordered the PNP Maritime Group to intensify their patrols in the country’s huge coastlines and sealanes to prevent attempts by foreign drug syndicates to smuggle huge volume of shabu and other dangerous drugs.

To do this, the top cop asked the PNP-MARIG headed by Brigadier Gen. John Mitchell V. Jamili to strengthen their coordination and interoperability with the Philippine Coast Guard) as part of their relentless campaign against illegal drugs.

Gen. Eleazar said the move is aimed at countering the activities of international and local drugs syndicates wherein the illegal drugs are being unloaded in the international waters and later picked up by their local contacts and eventually smuggled into the country.

“In our relentless campaign against illegal drugs as ordered by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and SILG Eduardo Año, I have already directed our Maritime Group to strengthen the coordination and interoperability with the Philippine Coast Guard to shield our territorial waters and coastlines from smuggling of illegal drugs into the country,” the PNP chief said.

“Mahigpit na ang pagbabantay sa ating mga airports at seaports dahil sa mas pinalakas na ugnayan sa ating Bureau of Customs, PDEA at ibang mga ahensya ng pamahalaan sa pamamagitan ng aming whole-of-government approach sa iligal na droga kaya pinagtu-tuunan naman namin ng pansin ang ating mga territorial waters,” he added.

One of the major products of the strong coordination among government agencies, particularly the PNP, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines), the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and the Bureau of Customs, was the series of operations last week in Zambales, Bataan and Cavite wherein more or less 809 kilos of shabu were confiscated and 11 big-time drug traffickers were neutralized.

The confiscated shabu was the biggest drug haul so far for this year, and President Duterte wants to further intensify the campaign against illegal drugs.

Gen. Eleazar emphasized the need for strong coordination and good working relationship with other law enforcement agencies as this would strengthen the fighting chance to finally end the threat of the illegal drugs in the country.

“Inaasahan ko din ang patuloy na pagbabantay ng ating mga chiefs of police at ang pagpalalakas ng ugnayan ng PNP sa mga coastal communities bilang pakikiisa sa adhikain ng ating Pangulo na tuluyan nang tapusin ang banta ng iligal na droga sa ating bansa,” he said.

Aside from coordination with other government agencies, the PNP is also strengthening its police-community relations to encourage the people to work with the police not only on illegal drugs but also on other criminal activities.

“Mahalaga ang mga impormasyon na ipinapaabot ng ating mga kababayan sa mga komunidad dahil sila ang nakakaalam ng mga kaganapan sa kanilang lugar at ito ang ating magiging basehan upang maayos at agarang maaksyunan ang anumang banta sa bawat kalye at sa bawat pamayanan,” Gen. Eleazar explained.

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