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ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanews/14 January) – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the region got a boost to its firepower in the campaign against prohibited drugs, a top PDEA official said.
PDEA Regional Director Adzhar Albani said his office received from their national headquarters an additional 10 new high-powered firearms comprising of three Israeli-made Tavor and seven US-made M4 assault rifles.
Albani said each Tavor assault rifle costs around P187,000 while an M4 costs around P107,000 each.
He did not disclose how many assault rifles his command now has with the arrival of the 10 new firearms except to say that a PDEA agent must have one sidearm or pistol and one rifle.
He said the 10 new rifles will be distributed to their offices in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga deal Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay and this city.
The PDEA regional office has also requested additional intelligence equipment such as Global Positioning System (GPS) units and bulletproof vests, he said. (MindaNews)