In a twist of fate, a fisherman earlier tagged by the police as a “Good Samaritan” after he turned over to the police bricks of cocaine he found on the seawaters of Tandag City, Surigao del Sur, in February became a suspect and was charged by the authorities for possession of dangerous drugs, police said Friday.
Police Brigadier General Gilberto Cruz, director of Caraga Police Regional Office (PRO-13), identified the suspect as Ronie Navales, 48, of Purok Santan, Brgy. Bongtud, Tandag City.
Navales was called a “Good Samaritan” and even rewarded by bags of rice by Cruz himself after he and a fellow fisherman, 23-year-old Ryan Apelo, surrendered to the police 34 bricks of cocaine worth P23 million which they found while fishing last February 23.
However, Cruz bared that Navales became a subject of surveillance operation after police received an intelligence report about his alleged illegal drug activities.
According to Cruz, Navales kept six more bricks of cocaine which he allegedly intended to sell to drug users in the community.
“Navales intentionally kept the six bricks of cocaine thinking he would gain bigger money by selling it to drug users,” Cruz said.
Navales was arrested on Friday and he yielded to the police four more cocaine bricks.
He claimed he flushed to the toilet the two missing cocaine bricks.
“Let us not be blinded by the greed of money for it will only bring trouble to you and your family,” Cruz said.
Navales was placed under the custody of the Tandag City Police Station while the surrendered cocaine bricks were turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Caraga for inventory. (Martin Sadongdong)
