P244M cocaine only ‘passing through’ PH

THE Philippines was only a transhipment point for the 70 blocks of cocaine found on the shores of Siargao and Dinagat islands, the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief said on Saturday afternoon.

PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde told reporters in this year’s Philippine Military Academy (PMA) alumni homecoming that the 70 blocks or 37 bricks of cocaine weighing 48.825 kilograms

and worth P244,125,000 were not for anyone in the Philippines.

“[The blocks of cocaine] will just pass through in the Philippines, then these will be shipped to other countries. Remember, cocaine is not popular here. Although it is being used [by some], because of its expensive price, it is not popular among drug users,” Albayalde said in Filipino.

He added that this way of smuggling drugs into the country was not something new in their book, explaining that those blocks of cocaine were intentionally thrown at sea and then would be monitored through the GPS attached to it.

The blocks of cocaine found on Siargao and Dinagat islands, however, had no GPS.

“It was supposed to stay there and when someone saw it, it will be shipped again. Probably, something went wrong because the GPS was missing. Usually, it has GPS attached to it,” Albayalde said.

He suspects that the blocks of cocaine were meant to be delivered to western South Africa.

“What we know is, it is usually delivered to western South Africa. A lot of people there are using cocaine, but with regard to Asian countries, it is not popular here,” Albayalde said.

Investigation of possible source of the drugs is ongoing.