Cocaine in WV adulterated–PDEA
Only minimal volume of cocaine supply enters Western Visayas which is mostly adulterated, based on the monitoring of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 6.
“We assume that the distributors are just testing the market here. Now, what we have here are those for consumption and not for distribution purposes,” PDEA 6 Regional Director Paul Ledesma said.
He said that users have been complaining that the “adulterated” cocaine has “no effect” and yet carries an expensive price tag.
Ledesma said the presence of adulterated cocaine in the region means
that the supply is part of the “Samar cocaine.”
The term “Samar cocaine” was coined after reports that a two-ton cocaine cargo was dumped off the Pacific Ocean in December 2009 and might have drifted towards the waters of Samar.
The crew, who monitored that they were tailed or that they would get arrested once they arrived at their destination in Hong Kong, dumped the cocaine off the waters near Samar.
Some of these drugs were recovered by authorities while some were surrendered by fishermen. Some of the supply were sold in Metro Manila while there were those seized from buy bust operations.
Ledesma said there is presence of cocaine in Western Visayas but authorities could not say that the supply came from Samar.
“The ones dumped and swept towards Samar waters are high-grade quality, about 90 percent pure, because it came from big drug cartels in Central and South America,” he said.
Ledesma said they had a test buy of cocaine in the region and when they had it laboratory tested, its purity was pegged at only 4.62 percent.
“The 95 percent adulteration is made of baking soda,” he added.
While the PDEA is not discounting the possibility that a small portion of the Samar cocaine was sneaked into Region 6, Ledesma said he also believes that the cocaine in Western Visayas came from Manila.
He based the assessment on the test conducted on the seized cocaine in Metro Manila, which has purity of only four to five percent.
“The cocaine in Region 6 could also be the same illegal drugs being distributed in big cities like Metro Manila and Cebu,” Ledesma said.*
