Floating cocaine a diversion – PDEA

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has theorized that last week’s incidents of cocaine bricks floating in local waters could be a diversionary tactic of drug syndicates to veer attention away from their main product, shabu.

PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said the syndicates drop off the bricks on Philippine seas and repacked before being transported and delivered to their contacts in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China or any other neighboring countries.

Over the weekend, Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Albayalde also made a similar assessment as the public were puzzled and alarmed over the discovery of the floating cocaine.

Aquino noted that drug syndicates are continuously on the lookout for gaps in the country’s coasts where shabu can be brought in, adding that cocaine only consists of about two percent of the country’s illegal drug market.

Since 2018, PDEA has reported 13 instances of fishermen finding cocaine in Philippine waters.

Earlier, PDEA spokesman Derrick Arnold Carreon said shabu is still the preferred illegal substance in the country.

Carreon said that with the demand rising, shabu now costs roughly P6.8 million per kilo, dislodging cocaine as the most expensive illegal drug in the country which costs only 15 million per kilo.

The spate of incidents of floating cocaine has sparked fears that international drug rings are still operating with impunity despite the government’s all-out war against illegal drugs.

Carreon had said the concerted efforts of the agency and the PNP have resulted in numerous arrests and the dismantling of shabu labs.

Carreon said PDEA is hard-pressed in performing its duties because of the country’s geography, its limited resources and lack of manpower.

The agency’s budget of 1700 million this year was also slashed, he said.

“When I was PDEA regional director, I had to seek the assistance of the Bureau of Fisheries and aquatic Resources (BFAR) to board their sea vessels,’’ Carreon said.

He noted that PDEA relies mainly on its regional offices to track down illegal drug personalities.

“We do not have sea vessels or helicopters but our men and women have performed their duties to the hilt with PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino taking the lead for the love of our country,’’ Carreon said.

Given the limitations, Carreon said PDEA remains duty-bound to carry on with its mandated tasks relentlessly unmindful of being outnumbered but never outworked or outfought.

Last week, 37 blocks of cocaine were found by a fisherman in the waters of Dinagat Islands, barely two days after another fisherman discovered from the waters of Camarines Norte a package containing 1,000 kilos of cocaine worth 15.44 million.

The following Friday, the PNP reported that about 40 bricks of suspected cocaine worth 1200 million were discovered in Siargao Island.

In April 2017, 28 sealed packs of highgrade cocaine worth P162 million were brought to shore by two fishermen in Lucena, Quezon.

Nine months later, 24 kilos of cocaine bricks worth 1125 million were discovered by a fisherman in Matnog, Sorsogon and 18.8 kilos of cocaine worth 179 million in Divilacan, Isabela in February 2018.

Recently, government authorities seized 274 kilos of shabu worth 11.9 billion from a warehouse in Tanza, Cavite. Two Chinese were killed in a shootout during the raid.

Aquino said the sealed shabu shipment appeared to have been dropped on the waters because the boxes found in the warehouse were still wet.

In a bid to outwit anti-narcotic authorities, Aquino said that illegal drug syndicates have entered the contraband in the country through “shipment smuggling’’ including the 274 kilos of shabu worth 11.9 billion seized by the agency in a warehouse in Cavite.

Aquino admitted that PDEA needs the help of the PNP and other anti-narcotics groups to enforce the country’s anti-drug laws.