China has vowed to help the Duterte administration accomplish its mission of flushing out drugs in the country within three to six months.
Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa, chief of the Philippine National Police, said the assurance was made during his meeting with the Chinese delegation at the sidelines of the four-day 36th Association of Southeast Asia Nation Chiefs of Police conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“They are very much concerned with the three to six months deadline of the President, they said they will help,” said Dela Rosa.
He said the extent of the Chinese assistance was further discussed during the meeting in Camp Crame, Quezon City with several persons sent by China to discuss the partnership in anti-illegal drugs operations.
“We discussed a lot of things, hopefully it would lead to positive results,” said Dela Rosa.
Most of the illegal drugs in the country are smuggled from China while most of those locally produced are manufactured by Chinese chemists.
President Duterte earlier said that most of the big-time drug lords are out of the country and are running their business through their trusted partners and lieutenants in the country.
He said he would talk with China regarding the matter in the future.
Dela Rosa said China has provided them with classified information on big-time drug lords smuggling drugs into the country.
“For example, we were already provided with the right profile of Peter Co and Peter Lim, right profile of unknown drug lords,” said Dela Rosa.
“They are all classified matters which I cannot discuss, matters of intelligence,” added Dela Rosa.
(Aaron B. Recuenco)