Cocaine in Philippines could be ‘diversionary tactic’ — solon

COCAINE BLOCKS recovered in Philippine waters may be a “diversionary tactic” for another set of smuggled drugs, said House Committee on Dangerous Drugs chair Robert Ace S. Barbers of the 2nd district of Surigao del Norte.

Mr. Barbers said the cocaine blocks may be part of an old modus which involves placing a GPS tracking device in the contraband.

“That’s the old modus operandi of the syndicates. So definitely, they will not waste valuable goods just like that. They probably sent it, following ‘yung kanilang scheme na meron GPS ‘yan tapos ma-te-take

up ‘yan ng kanilang local contacts. Siguro nagkaroon

ng bulilyaso, ng problema, nagkalat ngayon, that’s one school of thought,” he said in a phone interview. (They probably sent it, following their scheme using GPS, which their contact will later retrieve. Maybe there was a problem that resulted in the scattered cocaine blocks, that’s one school of thought).

“Another school of thought is it could be a diversionary tactic na pwedeng nandiyan ‘yan, kunware nagpalutang-lutang, ‘yun pala, merong dumaan sa atin (the cocaine blocks may be left floating, while another shipment is being smuggled) right under our noses, either in the BoC (Bureau of Customs), in our seaports and our airports,” he added.

For his part, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director-General Oscar D. Albayalde said the cocaine blocks were likely bound for Australia. “I talked with the Australian counterpart, seemingly lumalabas

itong na-recover na more than 1,000 kilos of cocaine, from the eastern seaboard of our country, ay parang

nangagaling ito somewhere sa Pacific Ocean pero ito ay hindi for delivery sa Pilipinas,” Mr. Albayalde said on Wednesday. (I talked with the Australian counterpart, it appears that the more than 1,000 kilos of cocaine from the eastern seaboard of our country came somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, but this was not a delivery to the Philippines.)