Philippines: Chinese drug traffickers killed in anti-narcotics police operation, methamphetamine seized

Police seized 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds) of methamphetamine from them.

Philippines National Police said four big time drug traffickers were killed in the operations.

"Government’s intelligence and anti-narcotics operatives seized some P3.4 billion worth of shabu in a successful interoperability of at least five government agencies led by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) against a big-time illegal drugs syndicate on Tuesday, September 7, in Candelaria, Zambales," it said.

The drugs, with an estimated value of nearly $70 million, were put on small boats in international waters and smuggled into the country, Philippine National Police said in a statement as quoted by AFP.

One of the men killed was identified as Xu Youha, who police said was "one of the key players of illegal drugs activities" in the Philippines and had been under surveillance, reported AFP.

The buy-bust operation at a hotel in Candelaria town, Zambales province, "resulted in the death of four Chinese drug traffickers who engaged government operatives in a gun battle in a failed attempt to escape," the statement said.

"This operation was a result of the whole-of-government approach in our campaign against illegal drugs," police chief General Guillermo Eleazar said in the statement.