Another brick of cocaine found

LEGAZPI CITY --- Another brick of cocaine wrapped in duct tape was found on Saturday afternoon by a passer-by walking along the shoreline of Barangay Bagumbayan, Paracale town in Camarines Norte province, a police report said on Sunday, Feb. 17.

Norly Soriano, 46, a resident of said village, told the police that he was walking along the shorelines of the said village when he found a brick-like item wrapped in a brown duct tape containing a white substance, according to Police Chief Inspector Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Philippine National Police (PNP) Bicol spokesperson. The package was turned over the Provincial Crime Laboratory Office for examination where it was positively ddetermined to be cocaine weighing 989.23 grams worth P5.2M. Calubaquib said the latest recovery of brick-type cocaine package brings to three packages found in the waters off Camarines Norte in a week’s time (Feb. 10, 11 and 16). She said these recovered packages have a cumulative total weight of 2.8 kilograms with street value of P15.1M. The first cocaine brick weighing 1 kilogram worth P5.4M was fished out on Feb. 10 by a fisherman off the waters of Barangay Sula, Vinzons town; the second package weighing 839 grams worth P4.5M was found at the shorelines of Barangay Sabang, Vinzons on Feb. 11 this year. Anti-narcotics authorities are still investigating the possible sources of cocaine. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said the illegal packages could have come from a cargo ship that met a sea mishap and sunk due to stormy weather off the waters of Samar province last year. The cargo ship was reportedly bound for other neighboring countries. Millions of pesos worth of cocaine were later found floating off the waters of Quezon province and Bicol.