More ‘shabu’ turns up in Ilocos Norte, Cagayan
DAGUPAN CITY—More shabu (crystal meth) placed in sealed plastic bags and sacks turned up in the coastal waters of Ilocos Norte and Cagayan provinces, authorities said in separate releases Sunday.
In Ilocos Norte, P20.4 million worth shabu were turned over to authorities by concerned local residents, including two fishers, on June 12 and June 13, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) reported Saturday.
PDEA said the contraband were in plastic bags with Chinese character markings. “They were discovered drifting in the shorelines of Barangays Pangil, Currimao; 33-A, La Paz, Laoag City; and Masintoc, Paoay, all in Ilocos Norte,” the PDEA said.
In Cagayan, police said two fishers found two sacks full of shabu floating along the waters in Barangay Centro 6 in Claveria town on Sunday morning.
Police Brig. Gen. Antonio Marallag Jr., Cagayan Valley police director, said the two fishermen who found the floating sacks containing the illicit drug were immediately turned it over to the Claveria police.
The weight and worth of the shabu found in Claveria have yet to be determined as the items were turned over to the PDEA for formal documentation.
‘Scouring of coastlines’
According to the PDEA, the “retrieval operations and scouring of coastlines continue until all surrounding areas are explored.”
“This is a testament to the strong inter-agency collaboration and cooperation among law enforcement agencies, in support of local government units and seaside communities, in protecting our waters from becoming prevailing routes of drug smuggling and trafficking activities,” said PDEA Director General Isagani Nerez in the statement.
As of June 13, a total of 1,243.12 kilos of shabu valued at P8,453,216,000 were surrendered to authorities after they were found floating by fishers in the waters off Zambales, Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte. These figures may still rise once the PDEA laboratory is done with the inspection on the sacks of shabu found in Claveria, Cagayan.
The PDEA Region Office 3 first reported that fishers found in the waters off Masinloc, Zambales 222.655 kilograms of shabu on May 29.
In Pangasinan, fishermen from the coastal towns of Bolinao, Agno, and Bani also recovered seven floating sacks containing shabu on June 5.
Drug ring
On Tuesday, PDEA identified the international crime syndicate Sam Gor as the group responsible for dumping the more than one ton of shabu discovered by local fishermen drifting in the coastal areas of the three provinces.
“Based on the packaging of shabu packs recovered on Philippine shores, they were contained in teabags with Chinese markings—a signature trademark associated with Sam Gor,” Nerez said.
Nerez explained that Sam Gor has local cohorts that would retrieve the packages of drugs they dumped in the sea, to be delivered to their buyers later.
“It’s a good thing that our hero fishermen got there first before the drugs fell into the wrong hands,” he added.
PDEA, citing intelligence sources, said the Sam Gor Group operates in several countries across the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines.
“It is largely involved in trafficking methamphetamine and is believed to have an estimated 40 to 70 percent control of the drug market in the region, raking up profits of more than $17 billion in revenue a year. Aside from shabu, the syndicate also funnels large amounts of heroin, ketamine, other synthetic drugs, and precursor chemicals,” PDEA said.
The agency, however, did not disclose the identities of the intended local recipients of the illegal drugs.
