UP TO P152 million worth of drugs seized by police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 were burned in a crematorium along Junquera Street, Cebu City, as mandated by the court.
Before the various kinds of drugs were cremated, these were shown to the public to prove that the evidence to be destroyed was indeed real.
This was witnessed by Cebu media, police officials, the Department of Justice, barangay officials and the Cebu City Government.
After being examined, the drugs were brought to the crematorium facility of Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes where they were destroyed.
PDEA 7 director Levi Ortiz said the biggest portion of the drugs was shabu which was seized in Lapu-Lapu City a few months ago, amounting to 21 kilos or P150 million.
This is the largest disposal that the PDEA has done after the court ordered it.
Ortiz said the operation was its way of showing the public how serious the agency is in its campaign against illegal drugs and dispel rumors that it recycles the seized drugs.
“We have nothing to hide. We don’t have illegal activities within the agency. When there’s evidence and court order, then we burn it,” Ortiz said.
Cebu City Police Office chief Josefino Ligan welcomed this operation so that the public would know that the seized drugs could no longer be used.
Ligan said many of those who comment on social media do not understand the process of destroying the drugs that have been confiscated. He said they still need to wait for the court to grant them clearance to burn the evidence.
In the coming months, more drugs that are in the custody of the PDEA and the Philippine National Police crime laboratory will be destroyed once the court orders it. (AYB, BBT / CCP)