Cocaine found in Philippine shores possibly meant for Australia: PNP
Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Albayalde on Wednesday said blocks of cocaine found floating in the eastern seaboards were not intended for the country.
In a media interview at Camp Crame, Albayade said his Australian counterparts told him more than 100 kilos of cocaine found in different provinces came from somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
“I talked to them earlier and it seemingly appears that the more than 100 kilos of cocaine recovered or to be exact is 111 kilos from the eastern seaboard of our country came somewhere in the Pacific Ocean but not for delivery in the Philippines,” he said.
Albayalde said there is a possibility it is for delivery to Australia.
“It’s one (of the possibility) because according to the Australian police their (illegal drugs) market value is good, even the market value of cocaine,” he said.
Albayalde recalled an incident in 2018 where the Australian Federal Police assisted the authorities from the Solomon Islands after recovering a package of cocaine similar to one recovered in our country.
“It appears that it passed by here and then dropped there in Solomon Islands and in Papua New Guinea,” said Albayalde.
Authorities think waves carried these blocks of cocaine here or it was probably dumped to be recovered later.
The PNP gave a specimen to their Australian counterparts.
“They can determine because this cocaine, this drug has a DNA. It has a signature on who manufactured it,” said Albayalde.
He said they are not zeroing in on the possibility this is a diversion as the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency earlier claimed.
Albayalde said he does not think the Philippines has a huge market for cocaine. Ella Dionisio/DMS
