ILOILO City – Cocaine and shabu were confiscated from a disc jockey of a disco bar in Boracay Island during a police buy-bust operation yesterday. This was the first time cocaine was seized in the world-famous island resort, according to Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao, regional police director.
“Pero hindi masyadong rampant compared to shabu,” he stressed.
Cocaine, also known as coke, is a strong stimulant mostly used as recreational drug. It is commonly snorted, inhaled as smoke, or dissolved and injected into a vein. Mental effects may include loss of contact with reality, an intense feeling of happiness, or agitation.
Bulalacao said his men were now trying to find out the source of cocaine.
The arrested disc jockey was Reuben Mendoza, a Metro Manila resident working in Boracay this past three years. He was detained at the Boracay Tourist Assistance Center (BTAC).
Last month bricks of cocaine in waterproof wrappers were recovered from some areas along the country’s eastern coastline, from Aurora province to Samar, down to Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental.
Yesterday’s buy-bust was carried out at the suspect’s apartment in Barangay Balabag, Boracay around 1 a.m.
Mendoza was arrested after selling a sachet of shabu for P500 to an undercover police officer, said Chief Inspector Jose Mark Anthony Gesulga, BTAC chief.
Police recovered from the suspect three more sachets of shabu, three sachets of cocaine, stainless straw and a weighing scale.
Each sachet of cocaine reportedly cost P5,000.
According to Gesulga, concerned citizens informed the BTAC about Mendoza; they got suspicious seeing lots of foreign and local tourists going in and out of the disc jockey’s apartment.
“So we placed him under surveillance,” said Gesulga.
Cocaine is addictive due to its effect on the reward pathway in the brain. After a short period of use, there is a high risk that dependence will occur.
Its use also increases the risk of stroke, myocardial infarction, lung problems in those who smoke it, blood infections, and sudden cardiac death.
Is cocaine being dumped clandestinely in the waters of Region 6?
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Maritime Command (MARICOM) and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) are on alert.
President Rodrigo Durterte said a Colombia-based international drug syndicate may have entered the country and that the cocaine bricks thrown into the sea from ships were being recovered by drug traffickers.
PDEA Region 6 director Alex Tabalate said his agency, MARICOM and PCG agreed to tightly monitor the waters of Western Visayas.
Since Feb. 10, more than 100 kilos of cocaine worth P871 million have been recovered on the shorelines or off the waters of Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur, Dinagat Island, Davao Oriental, Quezon, Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur and Aurora.
With a length of 36,289 kilometers, the Philippines is one of the countries in the world that have the longest coastline, thus difficult to monitor.
The Philippine National Police and PDEA both said only two to three percent of drug users in the country are into cocaine as compared to those who are using shabu, marijuana and ecstasy./PN
