Cocaine worth P5.2m recovered off shoreline in Camarines Norte town
Police recovered on Saturday a package of cocaine weighing around 900 grams worth P5.2 million along the shoreline of Paracale, Camarines Norte.
This was the fourth such package of cocaine recovered by authorities this week along shorelines of the country. On Feb 1o, a one kilo package of cocaine was found in Vinzons, Camarines Norte, then on Feb 12, 48 blocks of cocaine weighing 48.2 was retrieved in Dinagat Island and on Feb 14, 40 kilos of cocaine was confiscated in Siargao.
The Chinese-run Golden Triangle and Colombian cartels are being eyed as sources of these cocaine, which are dumped as sea, said Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino said.
Aquino said the Philippines is probably being used as a transshipment point as local demand for cocaine is small.
In a Viber meesage Sunday, Chief Inspector Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol region police spokesperson, said a 46-year-old man identified as Norly Soriano found a "brick-like item" while walking along the shoreline of Barangay Bagumbayan, Paracale town.
Police said the item was wrapped in brown duct tape and had a marking which says "Lexus." Calubaquib said Soriano tried to open the item and turned it over to the police upon seeing a "white substance" inside it.
The Bicol provincial police crime laboratory confirmed the white substance was cocaine.
"Under Chemistry Report No. D-68-19 released on February 17, 2019 at 3 am, it gave a positive result to the test for the presence of 'Cocaine' weighing 989.23 grams with an estimated market value of P5,242,919," Calubaquib cited from the progress report.
Calubaquib said police are still investigating the incident.
Meanwhile, in a radio interview over dzBB, Chief Superintendent Gilbert Cruz-- Caraga regional police director-- said cocaine recovered in waters of Dinagat and Siargao islands ere also tightly sealed and had markings.
"When you open (the block of cocaine) we recovered in Dinagat, you will see markings of dollar sign while those recovered in Siargao had markings of Bugatti, a famous maker of race cars in Europe," Cruz said.
"The modus is (the cocaine) will be dropped in the waters with GPS and buoy and then the receiver will be able to monitor (the location). We still can't say for sure if it will be recovered through a chopper, it can be attained by a diver," Cruz explained. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS
