P30M worth of cocaine found off Cagayan

Cagayan province map

MANILA, Philippines — Anti-narcotics authorities found at least five bricks of suspected cocaine with an estimated value of more than P30 million floating off the waters of Cagayan province.

Two bricks worth P15.9 million were found in the waters off Barangay Fuga in Aparri town around 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, according to a report from the regional office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Three bricks were earlier found by two fishermen from Barangay Sanja in Aparri around 9 a.m. on Monday, drifting between the seawaters of the towns of Abulug and Ballesteros.

All the bricks were found wrapped in sealed plastics with packaging tapes and black rubber and bore the logo of a professional Colombian football team.

The five bricks of suspected cocaine were brought to the regional laboratory of PDEA in Tuguegarao City to confirm if they were containing cocaine.

Local police and the PDEA were conducting follow-up operations in Cagayan to recover the remaining illegal drugs believed to be still in the sea or in the hands of the local fisherfolk.

—DEXTER V. CABALZA

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