Cocaine bricks keep washing up in the Philippines
PHILIPPINES Over the past few months, bricks of cocaine with a street value of millions have been washing up in eastern coastal provinces in the Philippines. In the latest incident, seven suspected cocaine bricks were found floating near a beach in Quezon province on Sunday.
And in May, 39 bricks with an estimated value of more than $4m (£3m) were found by fishermen. Police have said it’s possible the drugs were bound for Australia, where there’s strong demand for cocaine. But as yet there’s no definitive answer as to why these tightly bound drug packets are appearing along the coast. On Sunday, a family having a picnic by the sea in Mauban municipality in Quezon spotted seven objects floating near the shore. They collected them and after realising what they might be, fish vendor Ruel Perez immediately called the police. Quezon Police director Police Col Ramil Montilla told the Manila Bulletin the packages contained a white substance, were wrapped with tape and bore an energy drink logo. The contents is still being tested, but Col Montilla said if it were found to be cocaine it would have a street value of about 35m pesos ($682,000; £540,00).
That’s small compared
to a string of finds in February, when over the span of a one week, cocaine bricks estimated at 472m pesos were found along the shores of four provinces - Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, Camarines Norte and Quezon. The move prompted police in the Caraga region where Surigao del Norte is located, to offer residents a sack of rice in exchange for every brick of cocaine handed in. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, one kilogram of rice costs around $0.68 (£0.54). Then in May, fishermen found 39 blocks of cocaine when they were out fishing in the waters off Sorsogon province.