Pubdate: Mon, 19 Sep 2005
Source: Philippine Star (Philippines)
Copyright: PhilSTAR Daily Inc. 2005
Contact:  http://www.philstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/622
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
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Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Philippines

EDITORIAL - GOING MOBILE

Jueteng operators have long resorted to "kangaroo-style" mobile
operations during government crackdowns. Why not drug dealers? A
report published yesterday said drug traffickers have started
manufacturing prohibited drugs particularly shabu in laboratories set
up on ships and in trailer trucks. Naturally the mobile laboratories
are harder to detect, especially when drug dealers have on their
payroll anti-narcotics agents who can tip them off about police
surveillance and an impending drug bust.

There have been reports in the past of illegal drugs being unloaded
from ships anchored offshore and smuggled through the country's
coastal areas. Efforts to stop the operations were stymied by the lack
of patrol vessels and personnel as well as corruption. In certain
areas, local government and police officials are themselves suspected
to be directly involved in drug trafficking activities.

These same problems will hobble efforts to crack down on the mobile
drug laboratories. Law enforcers lack not only ships and patrol cars
to conduct surveillance operations, but even funds for gasoline and
other basic operational expenses. The archipelago has one of the most
extensive coastlines in the world. Patrolled by poorly equipped
military and police forces, the country's borders are among the most
porous in the region, providing sanctuary to all types of crooks, from
drug dealers to smugglers and terrorists.

With illegal drug manufacturers going mobile in their operations,
anti-narcotics agents can at best go after the middlemen in charge of
distributing prohibited drugs in the streets. To reduce their risks,
however, drug traffickers may simply opt to send their finished
products overseas, turning the country into an export processing zone
for prohibited drugs, just as certain parts of Mindanao are turning
into training centers for international terrorists.

This sorry state of affairs isn't going to change until law
enforcement agencies are given more resources to deal with the drug
menace. Law enforcers have a long wait ahead. 
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