PDEA declares it still has to recover some 946 kilos of cocaine from Samar

By NINFA B. QUIRANTE
September 24, 2010

CATBALOGAN, Samar  –  The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Regional Director of Region V declared that the agency has still to recover some 946 kilos of cocaine from the shores of Samar.

Speaking before the Samar Island Partnership for Peace and Development (SIPPAD) on Wednesday at the New Maqueda Bay Hotel here, retired general Pedrito Magsino said that the agency has recovered so far, only some 554 kilos of the dangerous cocaine with only 300 kilos coming from Eastern Samar.

It will be recalled that in December, fisherfolks started discovering bricks of cocaine from the waters fronting Eastern Samar.

As some did not know its contents, some turned the bricks to the police while some did not. Apprehensions of cocaine bearers that proliferated in Manila, Cebu and even Bicol followed.

PDEA people have also been scouring the coastal barangays of Eastern Samar from San Policarpo, Oras, Llorente, Salcedo and other areas.

The recovered cocaine is part of the 1500 kilos of cocaine dumped by a foreign vessel in the seawaters of Eastern Samar in December.

Directror Magsino said it was supposed to be delivered to China but because authorities detected the contraband, the ship disposed them in the Pacific Ocean and eventually washed away in the shores of Samar.

The PDEA official urged the help of the SIPPAD members to disseminate information to barangay folks to yield the cocaine in their possession to spare their children from the danger it poses.

When Calbayog City Mayor Reynaldo Uy asked the retired general whether the cocaine seized from Ilocos Rep Ronald Singzon in Hongkong was from Samar, Magsino said yes.