The Philippine Coast Guard, the Philippine Navy, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) have reported the recent recovery of a black dry bag containing nine packages of suspected illegal drugs approximately 20 nautical miles off Puerto Princesa City in the western Philippines.
The coast guard a local fisherman found the dry bag floating in the water near Puerto Princesa on October 6, but he did not surrender the bag to local authorities until Thursday, October 9.
The coast guard subsequently transferred the recovered items to PDEA's regional office in Puerto Princesa. PDEA then conducted an initial inspection and Raman spectrometer test, confirming the presence of cocaine hydrochloride.
The nine packages weighed a total of approximately 10 kg. According to the coast guard, the contraband had an estimated market value of around PHP56 million (US$960,000).
The contraband was later brought to PDEA's national headquarters in Metro Manila for additional testing at its in-house laboratory.
