House body endorses charges vs cops in P6.7-B drug bust coverup
A House of Representatives committee on Wednesday recommended the indictment of a dismissed police general and his sergeant, who both belonged to the police’s anti-drug group, for alleged coverup of a drug buy-bust operation last year in Tondo, Manila, where police seized and allegedly pocketed P6.7 billion worth of confiscated drugs.
The House dangerous drugs committee said the former cops violated the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act for possessing more than 990 kilos of crystal meth, locally known as shabu.
“The 990 kilograms of shabu seized at the Wealth and Personal Development (WPD) lending office on Oct. 8, 2022 was a product of drug recycling,” the body said in a report. “It was illegally taken from the seized evidence during the previous anti-drug operations of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PNP-DEG).”
The PNP-DEG did not reply to Viber and text messages seeking comment.
“The illegal scheme of giving substantial portions of confiscated drugs as a reward to confidential assets/informants is a prevailing practice in anti-drug operations,” the committee said.
It accused PNP-DEG operatives of brazenly disregarding the chain of custody when they “unreasonably delayed” the inventory and photograph of the seized 990 kilos of crystal meth in the presence of witnesses.
It also said there was no buy-bust operation against the caretaker of the WPD building on Oct. 8. “He was arrested by the drug operatives because he was at the premises of the WPD building, being its caretaker, when the raid happened.”
Some of the members of the PNP-DEG operatives involved in the 990-kilo drug raid misappropriated and failed to account for the seized evidence when they pilfered significant portions of the seized drugs before their inventory, it added.
Interior Secretary Benjamin D. Abalos, Jr. in June filed cases against 50 police officers involved in the drug bust cover-up. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
