11 October 2017•Update: 13 October 2017
By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
The Philippine National Police said Wednesday that 145 suspects wanted for serious drug had been killed in counter-terror operations during the country’s war on drugs which commenced last June.
The police added that 105 cases of homicide have been recorded and are currently under investigation, as of September.
Till Sep.19, more than 8,000 suspects wanted for serious drug had been identified, of which 1,473 had been arrested, while 3,489 surrendered to authorities.
More than 3,000 such suspects have either fled the country, are undergoing rehabilitation, or have died, Camilo Pancratius Cascolan, operations director for the Phillippine police, was quoted by local GMA News.
Most of them are missing, he added.
President Rodrigo Duterte commenced a controversial war on drugs last June, where he allowed the killing of suspects involved in the drug trade.
Since the crackdown, more than 1,300,000 suspects have surrendered and at least 113,900 arrests have been made, the police said.
Human rights organizations allege the bloody drug war has killed 13,000 people, while authorities say 3,850 have been killed in police operations while 2,290 have been killed by unknown assassins.
