1.8 tons of drugs worth $230 million found in truck in Philippines

More than 600 people have been killed in drug-related killings since June 2022 (representative)

Manila:

The Philippines has seized 1.8 tons of methamphetamine, President Ferdinand Marcos said on Tuesday, calling the record-breaking seizure the “right approach” in the war on drugs. The illegal drugs, estimated to be worth more than $230 million, were discovered by police on Monday during a search of a truck in Batangas province, south of Manila. The driver was arrested.

Marcos inspected the haul on Tuesday and said it was the “largest haul ever seized” in the Philippines. Shabu is the local name for cheap and highly addictive methamphetamine. It’s unclear whether this was a record value or quantity of drugs.

“But no one died, no one died, no gunfight, no one was injured,” Marcos told reporters.

“We performed the operation with great care. To me, it was the right thing to do and that’s how the war on drugs should be done.”

Police are tracing the source of the drugs, but Marcos said they were not manufactured locally.

An anti-drug campaign under former President Rodrigo Duterte killed thousands and triggered an international investigation into alleged human rights abuses.

Despite Marcos’ push for a greater emphasis on prevention and recovery, the war on drugs continues.

More than 600 people have been killed in drug-related killings since he came to power in June 2022, according to data compiled by Dahas, a University of the Philippines-backed research project that counts the number of such killings.

Carlos Conde, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said Monday’s counter-narcotics operation proved that counter-narcotics operations “can be accomplished without the use of violence as long as the authorities really do their jobs and follow due process.”

Conte challenged the Marcos government to declare an end to the violent drug war and reverse Duterte’s bloody crackdown.

“It is time for Mr. Marcos to walk the talk on drug policy reform,” Conde said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)