MANILA: On Friday (Jun 20), the Philippine Navy intercepted a significant illegal drug shipment valued at 10 billion pesos (approximately US$175 million), marking one of the largest drug busts in the country’s history, as stated by officials.
Naval gunboats caught a fishing boat transporting 1.5 tonnes of methamphetamine hydrochloride off the coast of Luzon, the main island, just before sunrise, according to Commodore Edward de Sagon during a news briefing.
In the operation, which involved collaboration with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, four individuals, including one foreign national, were apprehended, de Sagon reported.
“We’re still gathering information on where the drugs came from,” he mentioned, indicating that the illicit cargo likely switched from a larger vessel to the fishing boat before being intercepted.
“We had received intelligence and observed actions that raised our suspicions,” de Sagon added.
Navy representative John Percie Alcos described the incident as “one of the largest illegal drug seizures in the Philippine Navy’s history.”
Meth, referred to as shabu locally, is the most common illegal drug in the Philippines.
This recent seizure comes on the heels of another bust where nearly 1.3 tonnes of meth, valued around US$152 million, was confiscated in recent weeks, as per the presidential palace.
The palace noted that “the illegal drugs were handed over by fishermen who discovered them in sealed packages floating in waters near Zambales, Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, and Cagayan (northern provinces).”
The largest drug seizure in the Philippines occurred in April of last year, when over two tonnes of meth were confiscated at a police checkpoint in Batangas province, south of the capital, according to the presidential palace.
