The Philippine National Police is training its sights on the recipients of the cocaine smuggled ship-side worth P1 billion that was seized in the Philippines recently, an official said Sunday.
PNP chief Oscar Albayalde said they were now analyzing who the receiver of the prohibited drug might be. He said the cocaine was either dropped in the high seas or left in shallow waters to be picked up by its recipient.
Last week, anti-narcotics agents seized in three occasions over P1 billion worth of cocaine in brick form off the waters of Camarines Norte, Sinagat and Siargao Islands in the Caraga region.
“We are investigating as to who the recipients are… whether local or foreign,” Albayalde said while viewing the contraband.
He said it was possible that the drug syndicate smuggling the cocaine was using the Philippines as a transshipment point. It could be dropping the cocaine into the water with a Global Positioning System in it, to be picked up later by a diver brought there by helicopter.
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Albayalde said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency was studying where the cocaine could have come from but declined to hazard a guess.
“We have foreign counterparts investigating the illegal drugs,” Albayalde said.
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He said the cocaine seized on Dinagat Island had a dollar marking while a similar package intercepted in Siargao had the “Bugattis” label.
The cocaine being sold abroad costs 255 euros per gram, so that the bricks of cocaine seized here recently would amount to more than P1 billion.
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