Agents led by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has destroyed illegal drugs locally known as "shabu" worth USD 2.6 million seized from four drug-peddling suspects who were arrested in the village of Manresa in Quezon City. The illegal drugs were turned over to the court to serve as evidence to file the necessary criminal charges against the suspects.
Government authorities used thermal decomposition to destroy the 44 kilograms of shabu inside a chamber in Manila. The thermal decomposition uses heat to decompose the illegal drugs until they become ashes.
PDEA Director General Isidro Lapena said that they decided to decompose the illegal drugs publicly so the public does not think that they are recycling the illegal drugs for selling them to the market.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered anti-drug and police authorities to eradicate all shabu in the Philippines. Duterte said that there are around 4 million Filipinos whose future were destroyed because of their addiction to drugs. He also said that suspects who are addicted to drugs are not thinking in their right minds.
Around 3,000 anti-drug users and peddlers suspects have been killed by unknown vigilantes riding tandem motorcycles. Critics of the Duterte have accused the latter of having knowledge on the on-going extra-judicial killings victimizing drug suspects in impoverished communities.
Duterte blamed nacro politics as the root cause of the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country. He accused high government authorities and high-rank police officials serving as protectors of the illegal drug industry in the nation.