MANILA (PNA) — The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Friday bared new developments on the lingering Samar cocaine bricks issue.

PDEA officials cited findings and relevant factors that can help explain the difficulty encountered by authorities in salvaging and retrieving the supposed 1.46 tons of the illegal drug from the Samar coastlines and other adjoining areas.

“There is a probability that not all the two tons of high grade cocaine bricks drifted towards the coastlines of Samar,” PDEA Director General Dionisio R.Santiago said.

“We appreciate the cooperation being extended by international counterparts to get to the bottom of this issue. Unfortunately, there are still lingering questions about the real story behind this reported dumping of a huge haul of cocaine from the Chinese vessel F/V King Yue 1 on December 2009,” Santiago said.

The PDEA chief cited reports that PDEA’s international counterparts allegedly knew about the shipment and that they were actually tailing the vessel until a certain point somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

Santiago added, “The drugs were thrown overboard when the crew received word that authorities were following them and that they would certainly be arrested once they arrive in Hong Kong.”

He said Hong Kong law enforcement counterparts confirmed that they intercepted the F/V King Yue 1 and searched the vessel, but found no drugs on board.