Inquiry names RP top drug sources

Inquiry names RP top drug sources

MANILA (AFP): China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are the main sources
of illegal metamphetamines being smuggled into the Philippines as
part of a multi-billion-dollar business, a Senate inquiry was
warned on Wednesday.

Col. Victor Corpus, the military intelligence chief, said big
shipments of methamphetamine hydrochloride or "ice" were being
smuggled in through different points across the archipelago by
Chinese syndicates with the collusion of local authorities.

In one three-week period in 1998 alone, the syndicates
smuggled an average of 108 million pesos (US$2.1 million) in
drugs, he said.

Drugs of the highest quality are shipped on to other
destinations overseas while cheaper narcotics are sold in the
Philippines, Corpus said.