NBI arrests trader tagged in 2017 shabu shipment

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday confirmed the arrest of Chinese-Filipino-businessman Kenneth Dong, one of the alleged suspects in the P6.4-billion drug shipment from China that was seized in a Valenzuela City warehouse in 2017.

NBI Deputy Director Vicente De Guzman Jr. said operatives from the bureau’s Anti-Organized and Transnational Crime Division (NBI-AOTCD) collared Dong in an undisclosed place in Metro Manila based on the warrant issued by Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa last year.

De Guzman did not give details of the arrest, but that a press conference was forthcoming.

Estacio-Montesa also ordered the arrest of Customs broker Mark Taguba, who was initially detained at the NBI but later ordered to be transferred to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Camp Bicutan, Taguig; Li Guang Feng alias Manny Li, Eirene Mae Tatad, Teejan Marcellana, Chen I-Min, Jhu Ming Jhyun and Chen Rong Juan.

Taguba identified Dong as the middleman of the company that transported the shipment to a warehouse in Valenzuela City.

They and several others were charged with violation of the anti-illegal drugs act.

In April last year, Estacio-Montesa issued a hold departure order (HDO) against Dong and six other Chinese and Taiwanese citizens in connection with the case.

The court granted the motion of state prosecutors to bar Dong, Richard Chen, Manny Li, and Chen Rong Huan; and Taiwanese citizens Chen I-Min and Jhu Ming Jyun from leaving the country.

Estacio-Montesa agreed with the prosecutors’ argument that the probability of flight of the accused was present and valid.

“Being Chinese and Taiwanese citizens, the probability of flight of the above-named accused is strong to escape prosecution, as well as to avoid facing their criminal liability and thus frustrate the ends of justice,” part of the prosecution’s motion reads.

The HDO effectively ordered the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to keep a close eye on the accused and bar them from leaving the country.

On Aug. 15, Dong was arrested after attending a Senate hearing on the shabu shipment case on the strength of a warrant for a charge of rape filed by a 33-year-old woman at a Parañaque City regional trial court.

The woman claimed that she was drunk and possibly drugged when Dong raped her on April 10, 2016.

Dong has denied the allegations and the case was dismissed by the court.