Philippine police suspend drug war to tackle corruption

Head of national police force says anti-drugs units will be disbanded until 'rogue' officers have been 'cleansed'.

Police in the Philippines are suspending their war on
 drugs until they have "cleansed" their ranks of "rogue" 
officers, the head of the national police force has said.

Ronald dela Rosa, the director-general of the National 
Police, told reporters on Monday that he was disbanding
 anti-drugs units following a botched kidnap-for-ransom operation of a South Korean businessman.

Jee Ick-joo's body was found inside the grounds of
 the national police headquarters in October. His head 
was wrapped in packaging tape and he had been strangled.

"To all the rogue cops, beware! We no longer have a war
 on drugs," Dela Rosa said.

"We will cleanse our ranks ... then maybe after that,
 we can resume our war on drugs. The president told
 us to clean the organisation first.

"I don't know how long it will take to cleanse the PNP. 
But with each and every one of us cooperating, helping
 each other, maybe in a month, we can do it," he added.

The campaign, which also includes officers going from 
house to house in search of drug suspects, has claimed 
the lives of more than 6,000 people , according to a 
police report cited by the Manila-based.

the government and police force were sending
conflicting messages.

On Sunday, President Rodrigo Duterte, who swept to power
 in May elections on a pledge to eradicate drugs, vowed 
to forge ahead with his war on drugs until the last day of 
his term.

"This is a complete turnaround from his election promise
 that he will be able to eliminate the presence of narcotics
 in his first six months of office," our correspondent said.

Senator Leila De Lima, Duterte's most outspoken critic,
 said the president and his police chief "should 
categorically give the order to end the killings".

The dismantling of the anti-drug units meant "they are
 aware that the very men involved in anti-drug operations
 ... are involved in illegal activities under the guise of the 
so-called war on drugs," she told ANC television.

Duterte's anti-drug campaign has caused alarm in the 
West, and rights groups accuse Duterte of turning a blind
 eye to a wave of alleged extrajudicial killings by police, 
mostly of low- level peddlers. Police deny this, claiming self-defence.