300 Philippines police officers among drugs suspects
Police in the Philippines, which is engaged in a weeks-long war on drugs, say hundreds of officers are suspected to be involved in illegal narcotics trade.
National police chief Ronald dela Rosa said at a Senate hearing on Tuesday that about 300 officers were on a watch list on suspicion of selling the drugs seized in anti-smuggling operations.
The officers are also accused of protecting the syndicates involved in the production and distribution of narcotics.
The official said they would be removed and charged in court if found guilty.
The senate inquiry was being conducted by Senator Leila de Limaa, a critic of president Rodrigo Duterte, who has launched a crackdown on illegal drug in the seven weeks since he took power.
Rosa told the panel that about 1,900 people had been killed during the crackdown. Among the killings, 40 deaths were due to enmity or robbery, said the police official.
According to Rosa, about 750 of the dead were killed in police operations against drug dealers. The other killings are under investigation.
He said almost 700,000 drug users and drug dealers have turned themselves in to escape the crackdown.
On average, 35 people have been killed each day since Duterte took office on June 30, 2016 and started the clampdown on drugs trade.
The president has warned traffickers they risked death if they did not mend their ways.
He also urged legislators not to interfere with his campaign, saying they could be killed if they blocked efforts aimed at rooting out drug trafficking.
The extrajudicial killings have concerned rights advocates, with Human Rights Watch calling on the United States and the European Union to “make it clear to Duterte that inciting such violence is unacceptable and will reap potentially severe diplomatic and economic costs.”
Duterte, however, says he does not “care” about human rights, threatening to declare martial law and even leave the United Nations if the world body interferes with the crackdown.
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