Customs files smuggling raps vs magnetic lifter importer

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) drug smuggling charges against the importer of two magnetic lifters used to transport shabu discovered last Aug. 7 at the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

In a statement, the BOC said that it filed charges against Vedasio Cabral Baranquel, owner of Vecaba Trading that was reportedly the consignee for the two magnetic lifters imported from Malaysia. 

The illegal drugs, initially estimated to weigh 500 kilos, were reassessed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and later declared as only 355 kilos of shabu worth an estimated P2.4 billion.

Criminal charges for violation of Section 1401 (unlawful importation) in relation to Section 118 (g) (Prohibited Importation), pursuant to Section 4 and 5 of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 were filed against the importer before the DOJ.

The contents of the 20-foot shipping container were reportedly misdeclared as door frames. 

The shipment arrived on June 28 from Malaysia and declared abandoned 30 days later after no one came to claim the cargo. 

The seizure of the illegal drugs was conducted by the BOC and the PDEA.

Aside from the illegal drugs shipment, the BOC also filed before the DOJ a complaint of economic sabotage for sugar smuggling against Red Star Rising Corp. officers Dante Lunar, Leonardo Mallari, Richel Paranete Llanes, August Presillas Templado and Bernie Abrina Rubia.

Red Star Rising is reportedly the consignee of 45 units of shipping containers allegedly filled with smuggled sugar.

The shipment was estimated to be worth P59.7 million including duties and taxes.

The shipments were described in the manifest to contain packaging materials, kitchen utensils and kraft paper but were found to contain refined sugar.

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) also issued a certification stating that Red Star Rising Corp. is not a registered trader, and that the same has no pending application as trader for the crop year 2018-2019

It also denied issuing an import permit to the company.

The BOC filed before the DOJ four criminal charges against the respondents for violation of Section 1401 (unlawful importation) in relation to Section 117 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) and Section 3 of Republic Act No. 10845 otherwise known as the Large-Scale Agricultural Smuggling as economic sabotage.

After President Duterte debunked the theory on the reported P6.8-billion shabu that was offloaded from a Cavite warehouse, the National Bureau of Investigation will still conduct an independent probe on how the cargo slipped past the BOC last week.

NBI Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin said the NBI’s Task Force Anti-Illegal Drugs will do its best to conduct a thorough probe regardless of the pronouncement of various government officials.

“We will conduct our investigation independent of the comment of government officials. We rest assured that this is going to be a thorough investigation based on forensic evidence,” Lavin said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

Law enforcers had seized the shabu hidden inside magnetic lifters at the Port of Manila last Tuesday.  

Subsequent operations led to the discovery of four more magnetic lifters in Cavite. The PDEA reported that the four magnetic lifters could contain an estimated P16.8 billion worth of shabu that were allegedly taken by members of the drug syndicate.

At the height of public frenzy on how the supposed illegal shipment went undetected by authorities, Duterte declared that the lawmen were merely speculating on the alleged missing shabu when no evidence were seized from the cargo found in Cavite.  

“There was nothing there. They presumed it was filled with shabu and made assumption on the prices,” Duterte said.

In Malacañang yesterday, Duterte said the NBI assured the public that it will conduct an investigation as part of its mandate and upon orders of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.

“Yes sir, we – the NBI, received a directive from no less than DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra and attorney Dante Gierran, the NBI director immediately tasked the Task Force Anti-illegal drugs headed by attorney Jonathan Galicia here, to conduct the investigation. In respect of the investigation being undertaken by the group of Attorney Galicia, we reserve our comments,” Lavin said.

“But rest assured. We rest assured the public that… they have already started the conduct of the investigation in, maybe, after here or in a few days, they will be dispatching the full Task Force of the NBI including our forensics, in pursuit of the investigation,” Lavin added.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde ordered a revitalized Operation Plan Tokhang early this year and the police reported yesterday that the operatives are now more circumspect in conducting anti-drug operations with high regard for human rights.

In a press briefing in Malacañang, the PNP also maintained that the anti-drug campaign has been less bloody lately as compared to statistics gathered at the start of the war on drugs on July 1, 2016. 

During a presentation of the #RealNumbersPH yesterday, PNP spokesman Senior Supt. Benigno Durana reported the authorities recorded 4,410 personalities killed in legitimate police anti-drug operations from July 1, 2016 to July 31 this year.

Oplan Tokhang started during the time of former PNP chief Ronaldo dela Rosa, now Bureau of Corrections chief.

However, the PNP also reported a separate figure of a total 4,850 killed persons under the category of “death under investigation” since July, 2016 to the present.

Since the start of war on drugs, Durana said, there is an average of 105 deaths per week reported in the first three months. The numbers eventually went down while the PNP “polished” its strategy on the war on drugs.

“There’s an average of 105 deaths weekly. So, we adjusted our campaign, then it went down to an average of 69, then 39; and since December of last year up to the present, there is now an average of just 23 deaths per week,” he said.  – With Christina Mendez