MALASIQUI: Authorities on Wednesday confirmed that the powder inside a floating plastic container surrendered by a fisherman in Barangay Patar Bolinao town, Pangasinan on Monday is shabu weighing about 16.5 kilos and worth PHP112.2 million.
This was based on the screening report of the Pangasinan Provincial Forensic Unit, Agno Police Station officer-in-charge Capt. Ross Brian Marmeto said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Marmeto said the container was recovered by a 29-year-old fisherman from Agno town while fishing some 40 nautical miles west of Barangay Patar Bolinao town last Sunday.
‘He surrendered the container to the Agno Police the following day when he got back from fishing. It was processed and the results came out Tuesday night,’ he said.
Marmeto said they were still investigating the origin of the container and how it ended in the ocean.
‘It may not be related to the previous recovered packages since they have different containers but we are still verifying,’ he said, referring to the more t
han PHP642 million worth of shabu packages found floating at the coast of Ilocos Region in the latter part of June this year.
Marmeto said the fisherman who surrendered the item will be rewarded by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the local government unit of Agno.
With this latest incident, the police officer appealed to the public to surrender to authorities any container or packages they see floating on the sea, underscoring the importance of preventing its proliferation on the streets.
Source: Philippines News agency