Quezon police confirm washed ashore brick as P5.6-M worth cocaine

A brick of white powdery substance washed ashore Barangay Pambuhan in Perez town, Quezon tests positive for cocaine after a laboratory examination. (Photo from Quezon Police Provincial Office)

LUCENA CITY – Police confirmed that the white powdery substance inside a sealed package washed ashore on the island town of Perez in Quezon province on Thursday was high-grade cocaine.

A laboratory report released by Quezon police headquarters on Sunday disclosed that the 1,063 grams of moist white substance were tested “positive for the presence of cocaine hydrochloride, a dangerous drug”.

The cocaine is worth more than P5.6 million based on the prevailing price in the street market.

Fisherman Jovenson Etorma found the substance wrapped in thick packaging while picking plastic scraps along the coast of Barangay Pambuhan. Police said the fisherman then turned over the substance to barangay officials, who then submitted it to the police.

Col. Audie Madrideo, Quezon police director, said the substance tested positive for cocaine after an examination at the crime laboratory in Lucena City.

The brick of cocaine found Thursday was already the fifth illegal substance found along the province’s 1,066-kilometer coastline since 2018.

Police appealed to fishermen and coastal residents facing the Pacific Ocean to help the authorities in the search for more floating illegal drugs.

The recovered items indicate that the Pacific Ocean was being used again as a transshipment point of illegal drugs.

With a report from Cathrine Gonzales in Manila