This season, on Narcos.
OK, not really, but the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) announcement today that a Colombian drug cartel has entered the Philippines would fit right in the popular Netflix show. This follows Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s earlier statement saying a group from Medellin, Colombia is responsible for the cocaine bricks that have recently be found floating in waters across the Philippines.
After undergoing tests, it was discovered that illegal drugs found in Matnog, Sorsogon were made in Colombia, PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said, according to Radyo Inquirer. He said that foreign drug syndicates may be using the Philippines as their transshipment point for cocaine.
“We are facing a serious problem. Colombia’s Medellin Cartel has entered [the Philippines], that’s why a lot of cocaine has been discovered,” Duterte said in Filipino in a speech in Pasay City yesterday, GMA News wrote.
He also said that the coke is manufactured in old trawlers and are attached with GPS devices before being thrown into the sea.
Multiple blocks of cocaine have recently been discovered in or near Philippine waters just this month. The latest ones were found on Sunday in the sea off Caraga, Davao Oriental, ABS-CBN News reported. The 36 bricks containing cocaine were found after they got tangled in the net of two fishermen. This reportedly amounted to PHP200 million (US$3.8 million).
Aquino also reiterated today his previous comment saying that the blocks of cocaine found floating in Philippine waters could just be diversionary tactics as even more drugs pass through the country, Radyo Inquirer wrote.
His other theory is that smugglers who managed to load the drugs in a speed boat may have dumped them in the water upon realizing that they will be caught, GMA News reported. Aquino said that if this were the case, the smugglers would usually go back and recover the packs of cocaine.
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