THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) today (Thursday, June 6, 2024), destroyed ₱9,102,467,185.99 worth of dangerous drugs at the Integrated Waste Management, Inc. (IWMI), Barangay Aguado, Trece Martires City, Cavite.
The destroyed stockpile of illegal drugs had a total weight of 2,435,619.8626 grams. Majority of the illegal drugs destroyed were 1,293,934.2149 grams of Methamphetamine Hydrochloride, or Shabu; 720,898.6564 grams of Marijuana; and 359,752.1449 grams of Ephedrine.
Included in the destruction was the 1.2 tons of shabu seized during a checkpoint operation on April 15, 2024 in Barangay Pinagkurusan, Alitagtag, Batangas.
The burnt dangerous drugs comprised the evidence seized from various anti-drug operations conducted by PDEA, together with the Philippine National Police (PNP), NBI, and other counterpart law enforcement and military units, but were no longer needed as evidence in court. The expeditious prosecution and disposition of drug cases where said drugs served as evidence, led to its immediate destruction.
The pieces of drug evidence were destroyed through thermal decomposition or thermolysis. Exposed to temperatures of over 1,000 degrees centigrade, all dangerous drugs were completely decomposed or broken down, and are impossible to reconstitute.
Representatives from the Department of Justice (DOJ); the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG); local officials of Barangay Aguado, Trece Martires City; representatives from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other law enforcement agencies; non-government organizations (NGOs); and media partners joined key PDEA officials in witnessing the destruction activity.
PDEA continues to practice the swift destruction of all confiscated drug evidence as soon as permitted by the courts. There is no other way to address the lingering concern of the public that confiscated illegal drugs are being recycled and pilfered, than to destroy them as quickly as possible.
