Another cocaine brick recovered in Tawi-Tawi

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Philippine authorities said another brick of cocaine weighing about 2.2 pounds had been washed ashore in South Ubian town in the southern province of Tawi-Tawi, just 137 nautical miles from Malaysia’s state of Sabah.

The military’s Western Mindanao Command on Monday, December 19, said a villager collecting scraps along the beach line found the brick on Friday, December 16, and it was tightly wrapped in plastic and has markings “cocaine” and “D&B” written on it.

The cocaine was surrendered to village officials who handed it to the members of the 21st Marine Company in the village of Bubuan.

Photos released by the Western Mindanao Command show the recovered brick of cocaine weighing 2.2 pounds in Tawi-Tawi's South Ubian town. 

This was also confirmed by Brig. Gen. Romeo Racadio, commander of the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi. He said the cocaine brick was turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. 

 “The substance, believed to be cocaine, weighs one kilogram and with a value amounting to P5.3 million pesos. The recovered item was immediately turned over to the PDEA Tawi-Tawi for further laboratory examination and proper disposition,” he said.

 

It was unknown whether the cocaine came from Sabah or not, but this was the second cocaine brick found in the town in four days after two fishermen – brothers Alih and Sabri Iskan – retrieved a tightly sealed brick of cocaine at sea.

Authorities were investigating the source of the cocaine and who was behind it.

In 2019, fishermen also recovered at least 46 bricks of cocaine washing up in Quezon and Sorsogon provinces. And more cocaine bricks found along the shores of the provinces of Camarines Norte and Quezon in Luzon; and Dinagat Islands and Surigao del Norte in Mindanao in southern Philippines. The cocaine bricks were believed to be owned by a Chinese drug syndicate. (Mindanao Examiner)