PDEA: P672-M mail-order drugs seized in 2018

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) yesterday sounded the alarm on increased drug trafficking using mail and parcel services.

PDEA chief Aaron Aquino said P672 million worth of illegal drugs – 94 kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride, 16,714 ecstasy tablets and 1,109 grams of kush marijuana – sent through foreign and domestic courier services were intercepted in 2018.

Aquino said the drugs were seized in 35 operations, compared to four operations in 2017.

Meanwhile, the agency also arrested 1,612 high-value targets in the past year, among them 43 government employees, 57 elected officials and 15 uniformed personnel as well as 53 foreigners, most of them Chinese.