Local fishermen made a firm stand against illegal drugs by surrendering over a billion pesos worth of suspected shabu found floating in the shores of Pangasinan since June 5, 2025.
The illegal drug was placed inside a total of 267 transparent plastic packs, weighing roughly 267 kilograms worth a staggering P1,815,600,000.
The floating suspected shabu packs were turned over by the fishermen to combined operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Navy (PN) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) with the support from the Local Government Units of Agno, Bani and Bolinao, Pangasinan.
The turn-over were done in the coastal barangays of Dacap Sur, Bani, Pangasinan; Boboy, Agno, Pangasinan and Luciente I and Balingasay, both in Bolinao, Pangasinan.
“My admiration goes out to the fishermen for their selfless acts of honesty and integrity. They are not after personal gain but rather the greater well-being of society”, said PDEA Director General Undersecretary Isagani R Nerez.
PDEA also commends its partner law enforcement agencies such as the PCG under Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan and the PNP under Police General Nicolas Torre III, for their staunch cooperation to avert any attempts to exploit the porous coastlines of the Northern seaboard for drug smuggling.
The operation highlights the strong inter-agency collaboration of law enforcement units in carrying out the directives of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to ensure national security through persistent maritime and coastal vigilance.
“We are sending a clear message to transnational drug syndicates: our waters are no longer safe havens for their illegal operations. Do not dump poison into our coastal communities. We will hunt you down”, DG Nerez emphasized.
PDEA remains firm in its resolve to protect the Filipino people by leading the fight against illegal drugs. The agency will continue to forge partnerships with communities, maritime stakeholders, and other law enforcement agencies to guard the country’s shores against possible entry of illegal drugs.
As of press time, the turnover of more suspected shabu packs discovered by local fishermen is still on-going.
