PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde said the millions worth of cocaine found recently in the country's eastern seaboard may have been intended for Australia.
“I talked with the Australian counterpart kanina, seemingly lumalabas itong na-recover na more than 100 kilos of cocaine, to be exact is 111 kilos of cocaine from the eastern seaboard of our country ay parang nanggaling ito somewhere sa Pacific Ocean, pero ito ay hindi for delivery sa Pilipinas,” Albayalde said.
(I talked with the Australian counterpart earlier and it appears that the 111 kilos of cocaine found in the Philippines' eastern seaboard came from somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, but was not intended for delivery to the Philippines.)
Albayalde met with officials from the Australian Federal Police during the launch of Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center in Camp Crame.
“Ang possibility nito ay for delivery ito sa Australia. Isa iyon, that’s a big possibility. Kasi according to the Australian police, medyo maganda ang value, market value ng cocaine doon sa lugar nila... So we think na ito ay naanod talaga sa atin. Naanod sa atin ito, most probably, either nagcapsize o talagang di-nump ito and then babalikan na lang natin,” he added.
(There's a big possibility that it was intended for Australia, because according to Australian police, the market value of cocaine in Australia is good...So we think that the cocaine was just washed toward the Philippine shores. They might have been intentionally dumped and were set to be recovered.)
Since February 10, 164.81909 kilos of cocaine worth P871,654,226 have so far been found in the country's eastern seaboard.
Earlier, Albayalde said he does not believe that the recovery of the cocaine blocks were diversionary tactics of drug syndicates for a bigger shipment of meth (shabu) as stated by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Chief Aaron Aquino.
But Albayalde agreed with Aquino’s statement that the Philippines is being used as a transshipment point of drugs syndicates.
The PNP and PDEA both said only two or three percent of drug users in the country are into cocaine as compared to those who are using shabu, marijuana and ecstasy. (SunStar Philippines)