Device used to track drugs found in Camarines Norte

DRUG HAUL Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, Calabarzon police chief (left), and Director General Oscar Albayalde, PNP chief, present to reporters a tracking device and packs of cocaine recovered by fishermen in Camarines Norte. —MARICAR CINCO

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna — Police said a “buoy” retrieved by fishermen in the waters off Camarines Norte province on Sunday night was a “sophisticated, high-tech” tracking device used in monitoring drug shipments.

It was the first time that such kind of device was intercepted in Philippine waters, confirming suspicions that drug dealers have been transporting narcotics by sea, police officials said.

The device, similar to a buoy featuring a plastic neon orange top, contained a GPS (global positioning system) instrument. It weighed about 5 kilograms and contained a packet of silica gel that kept moisture off.

The device, along with packs of cocaine tightly sealed in plastic that protected it from seawater, and a plastic drum of liquid cocaine were presented to reporters by Director General Oscar Albayalde, chief of the Philippine National Police, in this camp on Tuesday.

Between April 15 and April 22, fishermen from Perez town in Quezon found a total of 28 kg of cocaine, worth P280 million, and 16.5 liters of liquid chemical that could make about 13 kg of cocaine worth P130 million, in Lamon Bay.

The tracking device was retrieved on April 22 in the waters off Vinzons town in Camarines Norte, near the area where one of the plastic drums was found, said Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) regional police director.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. Who knows how much [cocaine] had entered our local market?” he said.

Locator?

Eleazar said the device would be submitted to technical experts of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or possibly to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration for examination.

But based on initial police research, Albayalde said it served as a “locator” for drug dealers to find the drug haul floating at sea.

“It’s floating, blinking so when you’re in the air or when you’re afar, you can see it. It has a GPS. This is a locator to find the cocaine; it’s high-tech. Probably, they’re using a drone or an app (mobile phone application) and you can [point the location easily],” he said.

Single source

Police said it had yet to determine the source or the destination of the recovered cocaine but believed the drugs and the device came from a single source.

Fishermen, meanwhile, said they had not seen any vessel in the area where the drugs were found.

“This is something new because we usually see ‘shabu’ (crystal meth). With this amount [of cocaine recovered] … a big group [might be behind the shipment] and [it] may even be part of a cartel,” Albayalde said.