Camp Ruperto Kangleon, Palo, Leyte – The Philippine National Police (PNP) in Eastern Visayas  continues to monitor the cocaine recovery from the Samar shores, a police told the media here in a press conference.

Police Chief Supt Rey Lañada, PNP-8 regional director, said that his office has strengthened its intelligence operations regarding the recovery of cocaine in Samar, particularly in the eastern shores of the province.

Lañada's statement was in response to the question of members of the media on the police monitoring of the cocaine traffic and recovery in Samar island.

The press conference was the presentation of the 7.5 kilograms of cocaine worth P37.5 million which was recently surrendered to authorities by fishermen from Gamay, Northern Samar, an eastern town of the province.

During the said event, Lañada said that his office has also established contacts and networks with the local government units (LGUs) in  Eastern and Northern Samar for the possible recoveries of the cocaine that has been drifted ashore.

It can be recalled that late in December 2009, an estimated 1.9 tons of cocaine with estimated value of P5 million were dump in the Samar Sea by a Chinese vessel from South America en route to Hong Kong. The vessel crew, sensing that they were being monitored by the authorities, opted to dump the cocaine in the waters instead.

It has been reported that as of the moment, there are already 335.32 kilograms of cocaine recovered, which is valued at P5 million per kilogram or a total of P1,676,600,000.

Lañada added that the recent development simply indicates that there are still cocaine bricks near the island.