Manila: The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is set to form a specialised unit that will help in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.

Gen. Eduardo Ano, AFP chief, said that the unit, is envisioned to have anywhere from the size of a battalion or 500 soldiers to up to 5,000 men. It will help the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in enforcing its mandate to rid the country of illegal substances such as crystal methamphetamine or “shabu” as well as other addictive natural as well as synthetic hallucinogens.

Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte abolished the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Illegal Drugs Group and ordered the cleansing of ranks of the chief law enforcement arm after it was found out that some of its members were involved in illegal activities themselves such as extortion and kidnapping.

The abolition of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group came after it was discovered that one of its units were involved in the abduction and killing of Ji Ick Joo, a South Korean shipping executive.

The Ji issue caused serious question on the integrity of the national police force and put questions on the conduct of the government’s drive against illegal drugs.

According to Ano, the military unit that would be assigned in the anti-drugs drive would be under the direction of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), a unit patterned after United States’ Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and is tasked to go after syndicates involved in trafficking illegal substances.

“The unit will not be involved in the door-to-door campaign carried out by the PNP, rather it will help the PDEA in pursuing high-level syndicates,” he said.

According to PDEA Director Isidro Lapena, the government’s drive versus illegal drugs will have a multi-level approach. Special units of the PDEA will be joined by soldiers of the special anti-drug units in neutralising high-level syndicates as well as traffickers in the grass roots level.

“Barangays (villages), as the first line of defence, should be tapped as force multipliers of the national anti-drug campaign at the grass roots level. An integrated approach to emerge victorious in the war on drugs is to rid illegal drugs barangay by barangay,” Lapena said in a statement issued on Sunday.

The government’s campaign against illegal drugs, which according to reports had claimed the lives of as many as 7,000 suspects, has been heavily criticised abroad, particularly in the United States.

Last September, Duterte said he was mulling the revival of the defunct Philippine Constabulary, a paramilitary law enforcement arm with multifarious powers and capabilities that was abolished in the 1990s.

“There’s a new war looming in the horizon” Duterte said as he urged soldiers to train hard and stay true to their mandate.