Suspected Chinese drug trafficker may still be in RP - Sotto

MANILA, Philippines - Suspected drug trafficker Anthony Ang, who tried to smuggle some 700 kilos of high-grade shabu into the country through Subic last year, may still be in the country based on intelligence reports.

However, Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Chairman Vicente Sotto III said they have also received information that the Chinese national may already be in China or Taiwan.

“We are pursuing all leads and intensifying manhunt operations as ordered by President Arroyo,” Sotto told The STAR, noting that Task Force Double A is doing everything to locate the suspect.

He said the DDB, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) are all working together on the case.

Sotto said Ang’s crates from Taiwan were intercepted last year by Subic Bay Freeport Zone authorities who did not know that the boxes contained shabu of 95-percent purity.

The Chinese national allegedly managed to escape by pretending to fetch some documents to prove that he is legally bringing in cargo to the Philippines.

“Two have been charged including one Robert Lee. Yung lima (the five), including Ang, are the subject of intensified manhunt operations,” Sotto said.

BI is clueless

However, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said they have no record of Ang leaving the country.

“Immediately after it was reported in the media that the President wanted to have Ang’s disappearance investigated, we already checked our records, but our search turned out to be negative,” a BI official, who requested anonymity, said.

He admitted that since the name “Anthony Ang” was common, several of those names came up in their records but they were listed as either Filipino or Taiwanese, not Chinese.

“We do not know how he left the country, if he has already left the country,” he said.   – With Evelyn Macairan