The Philippine National Police's leading anti-narcotics squad that will purge scalawags is set to begin, a PNP officer said on Thursday.

According to Col. Marlou Martinez, the PNP Drug Enforcement Group's deputy director for administration, 97 police officers were removed from their duties following a background inquiry into charges of malfeasance.

He stated that the PDEG now has 1,304 police officers.

Among the measures implemented by PDEG director Brig. Gen. Faro Antonio Olaguera, who took over the unit last month, was administrative relief for police scumbags.

The PDEG has been engaged in controversy since some of its officers and soldiers were accused of anomalies in the seizure of 990 kilograms of shabu worth P6.7 billion in Tondo, Manila, last October.

PNP head Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. has launched an operation to purge corrupt police officers from the PDEG and other drug enforcement units (DEUs) across the country.

In an interview with reporters, Acorda stated that they had begun checking the employees of all their anti-narcotics divisions.

He noted that the plan to disband the PDEG's special operations units (SOUs) is still under consideration.

Meanwhile, officers from the PDEG's SOUs in Metro Manila and Calabarzon were among those being investigated for alleged irregularities in the Tondo operation.