More gov’t officials, workers arrested for illegal drugs in 2017: PDEA

January 16, 2018

The number of government officials and workers arrested for illegal drugs increased by 30 percent in 2017, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said Tuesday.

In a statement, PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said a total of 301 people  in government suspected to be involved in illegal drugs were apprehended from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 last year.

"More and more unscrupulous government workers are involved in the country's illegal drug trade as shown in the rising number of arrested state workers each succeeding year," said Aquino.

They are composed of 125 elected officials, 27 uniformed personnel and 145 government employees.

In 2016, the PDEA nabbed 231 people.

Government workers were among the 75,008 suspected drug personalities arrested in 38,830 anti-drug operations by PDEA and other law enforcement agencies.

“This is 14 percent more than the operations conducted in 2016. As a result of the increase, the number of arrested drug offenders likewise grew by 167.35 percent from 28,056 in 2016 to 75,008 in 2017,” said Aquino. DMS