PDEA: Evidence gathering for pseudoephedrine case 75% complete

The gathering of evidence for the filing of charges against the local contacts of an Australian syndicate on the P3.6 billion pseudoephedrine smuggling case is now 75 percent complete, said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency recently.

PDEA legal officer Lydia Bundac, who set herself a deadline to finish the investigation by next week, said the pieces of evidences so far gathered are affidavits of the operatives who busted the illegal shipment, and documents linking some local contacts to the Australia-based syndicate.

Bundac said PDEA wanted to file the case at the Department of Justice next week but she is still waiting for the affidavits of two more witnesses who were allegedly involved directly in the shipment of the drug precursor items from China in 2004.

The case could have been filed long before had there been "serious investigation" at the time, Bundac admitted, adding that the gathering of evidence was also easier then because the people involved in the seizure of the shipment were still in the police service.

Locating the people involved in the shipment is harder now because some of them have already retired. Even the chemist who conducted the laboratory examination on the seized pseudoephedrine had already gone abroad and could no longer be located, said Bundac.

Bundac said the pieces of evidence in PDEA's possession now are just the same items that should have been gathered long before.

Until the case is filed at the DOJ, Bundac said she would still withhold the names of the people that the PDEA will be indicting for the illegal importation of the substance.

She only said that among them would be the officials of the Coastside Ventures Incorporated, a company that was listed as consignee of the shipment. - Fred P. Languido/RAE