Nearly 300 cops hooked on drugs – PNP

Nearly 300 police officers were found to be drug users, the head of the Philippine National Police’s Internal Affairs Service (IAS) said yesterday.

IAS Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo said 292 police officers were found to be addicted to illegal drugs since July 2016. Of this number, only three are still awaiting the resolution of their cases.

“Most of them were dismissed from the service,” Triambulo said in a phone interview.

Superintendent Lito Cabamongan of the PNP Crime Laboratory is so far the highest ranking official who was caught in a drug session in Las Piñas City on March 2017.

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa himself berated Cabamongan for his drug use while the police were implementing President Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.

Majority of those caught are non-commissioned officers, said Triambulo, 50 of whom were arrested in entrapment operations by the PNP Counter-Intelligence Task Force.

Some of the police officers were found to be drug dealers themselves.

“These are what we call ninja cops. They recycle drugs which they seized from previous operations,” he said.

Triambulo said a police officer who tested positive for illegal drugs will face the maximum administrative penalty of dismissal from the service as it is considered a drug offense.

Triambulo said they are currently conducting a study to determine the actions to take to prevent police officers from getting hooked on drugs.