Fisherman who turned over cocaine bricks now a drug suspect

A fisherman earlier tagged by the police as a "Good Samaritan" for turning over to the police cocaine bricks he found in the seawaters of Tandag City, Surigao del Sur in February has been charged for possession of dangerous drugs, police revealed Friday.

Police Brigadier General Gilberto Cruz, director of the Caraga Police Regional Office (PRO-13), identified the suspect as Ronie Navales, 48, of Purok Santan, Barangay Bongtud, Tandag City.

Navales was called a "Good

Samaritan" and was rewarded with bags of rice by Cruz after he and a fellow fisherman, Ryan Apelo, 23, turned over to the police 34 bricks of cocaine worth 123 million which they found while fishing last February 23.

But Cruz bared that Navales became a subject of surveillance operation after police received an intelligence report about his alleged illegal drug activities.

According to Cruz, Navales had kept six bricks of cocaine which he allegedly intended to sell to drug users in the community.

"Navales intentionally kept the six bricks of cocaine thinking he would gain bigger money by selling it to drug users," Cruz said.

Navales had been arrested on Friday and he yielded to the police four more cocaine bricks.

He claimed he had flushed in the toilet the two missing cocaine bricks.

"Let us not be blinded by the greed of money for it will only bring trouble to you and your family," Cruz said.

"This serves as a warning to those who recovered bricks of cocaine and are planning not to surrender these to the authorities. You can never hide from the long arm of the law," he added.

Navales was placed under the custody of the Tandag City Police Station while the surrendered cocaine bricks were turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)Caraga for inventory.

The suspect was charged with violating Section 11 (possession of dangerous drugs) of the Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Since February 10, a total of 228 kilos of cocaine worth 11.2 billion have already been recovered by the authorities in the eastern seaboard of the country.

Police General Oscar Albayalde, PNP chief, expects that more cocaine bricks will be washed ashore in the territorial waters of the Philippines in the coming months.