Recycling drugs in PDEA is ”impossible”: Aquino

September 19, 2019

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency ( PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino on Friday said recycling of illegal drugs in their organization is “impossible” as they present their evidence room to the media.

The evidence room of PDEA which they opened to the media for the first time has 24-hour security.

“So it’s not true that there is  recycling here in PDEA when it comes to our evidence room. That’s impossible. It was shown to you how secure (is) this area. The safeguards you have to go through, it’s so secured. Even if you attempt to steal or do anything here inside, definitely you cannot enter,” Aquino explained.

“The possibility of recycling of illegal drugs in PDEA custody is zero,” he added.

The PDEA chief said the room’s biometric and facial recognition feature can only be used by Director Derrick Carreon and the two custodial officers, who he said has three different keys.

“Even if you open the door but you don’t have the two features, you still cannot open it,” he said.

As of now, around P22 billion worth of illegal drugs are still being kept inside their evidence room that has eight CCTV cameras.

Meanwhile, Aquino said they are set to meet with some senators and justices to discuss how they can improve burning of illegal drugs they seize.

“On October 3, Senator Panfilo Lacson Jr, Senator Franklin Drilon, the PDEA, some justices together with a court administrator will have a meeting on how to come up with a better procedure on how to burn drugs faster,” he said.

The PDEA opened their evidence room after it revealed some police officers are involved in recycling illegal drugs. PDEA urged the Philippine National Police to show where they keep drugs they seized. Ella Dionisio/DMS