Fisherman recovers sachet with 39 grams of cocaine floating in Lamon Bay

LUCENA CITY – A Quezon fisherman found a plastic sachet containing 39.25 grams of cocaine in the Lamon Bay area, police said Thursday.

In his affidavit, fisherman Rogelio Olveda from Barangay (village) Calumanguin in Gumaca town told the police he found a floating plastic sachet that contains white powdery substance like “tawas” (alum) while fishing in the waters off Plaridel town on April 10.

When he returned home, he showed his finding to his friend “Rico” but they both decided to just throw the plastic away.

Olveda said a village councilor on Wednesday inquired about his recovered item and advised him to turn it over to the authorities because it could be part of the 28 kilos of cocaine earlier recovered from the island town of Perez.

Olveda said he immediately retrieved the plastic with white powdery substance and brought it to the Gumaca police station.

Quezon police director Senior Supt. Rhoderick Armamento, said laboratory tests by the police confirmed that the substance was cocaine.

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

“We believe that there are more floating containers of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean that could possibly be retrieved by fishermen or washed ashore towards Quezon,” Armamento said.

Between April 15 and April 22, fishermen from Perez 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 the waters off Pacific Ocean in Camarines Norte.

On Sunday, another group of fishers also from Perez recovered a sophisticated tracking device, similar to a buoy that has global positioning system instrument which they voluntarily surrendered to local police.

“The recovered items indicate that the Pacific Ocean was being used again as transshipment point of illegal drugs,” Armamento said.

Armamento said police and local officials in Quezon’s coastal towns have been placed on high alert to foil the smuggling of illegal drugs.

“We have to remain vigilant to thwart any possible attempts [by] drug syndicates to again use of our coastal areas as a transshipment point of illegal drugs,” Armamento, said in an interview Wednesday.

The 1,066-kilometer coastline of Quezon province had been known in the past to be a drop-off point for illegal drug shipments.