A fisherman who was hailed a hero after handing in 34 bricks of cocaine found floating in the sea has been arrested - after keeping six back for himself.

Ronie Navales, 48, picked up the huge haul of drugs with around 500,000GBP after noticing them off the coast of Surigao del Sur, the Philippines in February.

Cops gave him a sack of rice and around 100GBP as a reward. But they became suspicious after reports of a new drug dealer in the local village.

Navales was put under surveillance and eventually cracked. Last Friday (12/04) he handed in the four blocks each weighing around 1.3kg.

The shamed fisherman claimed that he had flushed two other blocks down the toilet but police suspect he could have already sold them.

Police Brigadier General Gilberto Cruz, director of the Caraga Police Regional Office, said: ‘’Navales became a subject of surveillance operation after police received an intelligence report about his alleged illegal drug activities.

‘’Navales intentionally kept the six bricks of cocaine thinking he would gain bigger money by selling it to drug users.’’

Police said Navales had violated Section 11 of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 for illegal possession of drugs, an act that is punishable with life imprisonment.

Brigadier General Cruz added: ‘’Let us not be blinded by the greed of money for it will only bring trouble to you and your family. This serves as a warning to those who recovered bricks of cocaine and are planning not to surrender these to the authorities.''