P80-M cocaine found in Isabela waters

Another container that yielded cocaine is found in the coastal town of Divilacan in Isabela province on Tuesday. —ISABELA PNP PHOTO

CITY OF CAUAYAN—Cocaine sealed in a blue plastic container was found floating in waters off the coastal town of Divilacan in Isabela province on Tuesday, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) was checking if it came from a batch of drugs recovered in Sorsogon province on Jan. 3.

The PDEA asked the police crime laboratory to collect samples from the cocaine found near Barangay Dipudo in Divilacan, said Louella Tomas, spokesperson for the agency’s Cagayan Valley office.

The cocaine weighed 18.842 kilograms and could have a street value of P79.136 million.

Crystalline substance

Two speedboat operators saw the container floating about 100 meters from the shore, said Senior Insp. Jonathan Ramos, Divilacan police chief.

He said the container had eight packs filled with crystalline substance that were sealed with packaging tape.

Divilacan Mayor Venturito Bulan said the container was immediately turned over to the PDEA.

Foreign market

The cocaine in Sorsogon was sealed in 25 packs in a blue container found on the shores of Barangay Calintaan in Matnog town. It was recovered at the same time the crew of a distressed Chinese ship was being rescued in Northern Samar province.

Tomas said the cocaine may have been intended for another country, not the Philippines. She said the PDEA suspected the country’s shorelines merely offered drug syndicates a way to conceal the contraband during shipment across Asia.

“The country’s drug of choice is ‘shabu’ (crystal meth), marijuana or [the party drug] ecstasy. Cocaine has never been popular in the country,” she said.

Divilacan was declared drug-free last year and that status may not change with the recovery of the cocaine, Tomas said, adding that PDEA had no evidence of “transshipment activity in the town.”

In this photo taken in January, Bicol police officials present to
reporters the packs of cocaine found in Matnog, Sorsogon.
—MA. APRIL MIER

Sorsogon probe

A second-class town, Divilacan (population as of 2015: 5,687) can be reached by boat, a 45-minute plane ride or a three-day hike along northern Sierra Madre.

The Sorsogon police have yet to establish the source of the cocaine that washed ashore in Matnog last month.

“The investigation revealed that it came from a foreign vessel but we were not able to build up a case since we had yet to identify the source,” said Senior Supt. Marlon Tejada, Sorsogon police director.

The container, filled with 25 packs of white powder, was found by a resident off Juag Lagoon, a local tourist attraction.

No evidence

Earlier, the Bicol police and PDEA suspected that the drugs were from the vessel, MV Jin Ming No. 16, which sank off Pambujan town in Northern Samar on Jan. 2 due to bad weather spawned by Tropical Storm “Agaton.”

A committee that investigated the sunken vessel did not find anything illegal involving the ship or its crew.

“[T]he investigation committee has found no evidence of criminal activity on board the vessel,” according to the two-page report submitted by Task Force Jin Ming No. 16.

Liquor, fish crates

“The investigation committee hereby issues this joint certification certifying that the rescued vessel and its crew members have not violated any Philippine laws, rules and regulations,” it added.

The report said task force members found at least 1,700 carton boxes of liquor and several fish crates when they inspected the vessel.

The nine crew members—six Chinese, two Hong Kong nationals and a Taiwanese—were taken to the Bureau of Immigration central office so they could process their documents and return to their countries. —With reports from Joey A. Gabieta and Ma. April Mier