AUTHORITIES prevented a foreign vessel from smuggling on Sunday some five tons or 5,000 kilos of shabu worth P34 billion, officials reported yesterday.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) spokesman Joseph Frederick Calulut said the vessel briefly entered the country’s 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the coast of Mindoro.
The vessel escaped and left the EEZ when it noticed the presence of a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel carrying PDEA and PCG personnel conducting an anti-drug operation, Calulut said.
“It entered (the EEZ) but when we tried to get near it, it maneuvered and exited (the EEZ),” he said.
He said rough sea conditions contributed to the failure of the PDEA and PCG to intercept the foreign vessel.
Based on intelligence reports, the foreign vessel’s crew members were trying to smuggle more or less five tons of shabu to the Philippines.
“That’s a large quantity (of shabu) if it landed (in the country),” Calulut said, adding that the drug shipment could have been one of the largest in the Philippines had the smuggling been successful.
When asked, he refused to disclose the vessel’s country of origin “because we have ongoing operations, we have follow-up operations.”
He also said authorities are monitoring any possible new attempt by the vessel to return to Philippine waters to smuggle the drugs.
In a separate statement, PCG commandant Adm. Ronnie Gil Gavan said the operation underscored the effectiveness of collaboration in the campaign against illegal drugs. “The success of this operation highlighted the effectiveness of the national government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign and law enforcement operations within our maritime jurisdiction to prevent the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country,” said Gavan.
