08-07-2025
Over P30B worth of illegal drugs seized in first half of 2025
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said on Tuesday that it has confiscated around P30.29 billion worth of illegal drugs in the first six months of 2025.
PDEA spokesperson Joseph Frederick Calulut said in Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon that among the items they seized were shabu, marijuana, cocaine, and ecstacy.
The anti-drug agency also said that it has conducted 19,765 anti-illegal drug operations in various regions including Region 7, 4-A,3, NCR, Region 11.
Calulut noted that such operations led to the arrest of more than 26,000 individuals, including foreigners.
'Speaking of high-value targets na na-aresto sa period na 'yun, we have arrested 26,051 individuals and high-value targets dito is 1,551. Kapag sinabi nating high-value targets, kasama na rin po diyan yung mga foreigners. Sa katunuyan po, may mga 27 na foreigners na na-aresto and majority of this ay mga Tsino,' said Calulut, adding that these foreigners are members of drug syndicates.
(Speaking of high-value targets who were arrested in the said period, we have arrested 26,051 individuals and 1,551 of them are high-value ones. Among the high-value targets are foreigners. In fact, we have arrested 27 foreigners and the majority of them are Chinese.)
PDEA added that it has filed cases against 27,617 individuals and over 11,000 were convicted.
The agency also said that from January to June of this year at least 4,027 barangays were cleared from illegal drugs activities.
Calulut assured that there was no 'recycling' of confiscated illegal drugs as witnesses are present during the inventory.
'During the marking and inventory of drug evidence, nandiyan na rin ho ang mga witnesses. So wala hong masasabi ang mga tao na may recycling na nangyari,' he said.
(During the marking and inventory of drug evidence, we have witnesses present. So people cannot accuse us of recycling.) — BAP, GMA Integrated News
