PRRD: Illegal drugs trade now a R215-billion industry
The government must conduct a "thorough investigation" on the smuggling of illegal drugs using container vans by suspected foreign syndicates before blaming the Chinese for the offense, President Duterte said Sunday.
The President said
it is unfair to immediately blame the importers, including Chinese nationals, for the smuggled goods without a comprehensive investigation.
"Kawawanaman ‘yungmgatao [I sympathize with the people] especially the legit importers and their containers are taken advantage of by criminal gangs so there has to be a thorough investigation before we start to blame mostly Chinese,” Duterte said during the launch of the new book of former President Fidel V. Ramos at the Manila Hotel.
Duterte emphasized the need for presumption of innocence on the part of the ship’s owners and importers before authorities conclude their involvement in the illegal drug trade.
"We have the cooperative international intelligence sharing and we can have that. So what’s more important really is not to drag along innocent people into a criminal case which we are not sure of," he said.
The President acknowledged that some international drug cartels have taken advantage of the container circuit to smuggle illegal drugs into the country. He said the drugs are usually placed under the steel container's ceiling and covered with high-grade plastic to avoid detection.
"I think this dope situation in Southeast Asia is being run by the Triad of Asia. And Sinaloa it’s doing its thing, the Medellin Cartel, using the network of containers," he said.
"That is why do not conclude right away that the owner of the container is the smuggler of the drugs. The smugglers and the Sinaloa have a captive audience inside," he added
He also said the country's "vicious" drug trade has become aP 215 billion annual industry "all reducing my countrymen into slavery to a drug called sh a bu( me th amphetamine hydrochloride)."
The syndicates no longer have drug laboratories in the country, Duterte revealed amid the intensified anti-drug campaign. The illegal drugs, however are reportedly being cooked in the middle of the ocean and dumped at sea to be picked up by drug lords.
"So I said with a little bit of hubris but which was really needed to make people understand and maybe to realize the gravity of the situation. And I said: Do not destroy my country because I will kill you and do not destroy the young people, our only asset," he said.
"They are the assets --- they are the human beings that would take care of us when we get old," he added.