Acierto, 7 others in shabu shipments ordered arrested

MANILA, Philippines — A Manila court has ordered the arrest of former police official Eduardo Acierto and seven others indicted over the smuggling of billions worth of shabu last year.

The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 35 issued the arrest warrant against Acierto and other co-accused in the case for importation of dangerous drugs under Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Also ordered arrested were seven other accused: former Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban and former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) deputy director for administration Ismael Fajardo; importers Chan Yee Wah alias KC Chan and Zhou Quan alias Zhang Quan; consignees Vedasto Cabral Baraquel Jr. and Maria Lagrimas Catipan of Vecaba Trading and Emily Luquingan.

The DOJ has tapped the Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to hunt down the accused after receiving the copy of the warrant last week.

Only Guban, who has testified in earlier congressional investigations on the matter, is currently in custody.

Guban was taken into custody of the NBI last April 17.

The case stemmed from the successive seizure in August last year of two abandoned magnetic lifters at the Port of Manila which contained 355 kilos of shabu worth P2.4 billion and of four other magnetic lifters at a warehouse in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite believed to have been used to smuggle 1.6 tons of shabu worth P11 billion.  

In the order dated April 12, Judge Ma. Bernardita Santos has set no bail for the accused as drug importation charges are non-bailable under the law.

Acierto recently surfaced at a press conference with select media outfits and linked President Duterte’s former adviser Michael Yang to the illegal drug trade in the country.

The DOJ indicted Acierto and other accused in court after finding probable cause in the charges against them filed by the NBI.

In the resolution last April 8, the investigating panel of prosecutors led by Assistant State Prosecutor Mary Jane Sytat cleared 32 others in the drug smuggling charges for lack for evidence.

The panel also endorsed to the Office of the Ombudsman for preliminary investigation the complaint for violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 (dereliction of duty and grave misconduct) against former Bureau of Customs (BOC) commissioner and now Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director general Isidro Lapeña, Fajardo, Acierto, Guban, dismissed Port of Manila district collector Vener Baquiran, BOC X-ray Inspection Project head Zsae Carrie de Guzman, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) officer Gorgonio Necessario, Customs Operating Office IV Dolores Domingo, BOC shift supervision Benjamin Cajucom, BOC X-ray operator and analyst Manuel Martinez, customs employees Joseph Dimayuga and John Mar Morales.

They likewise recommended to the ombudsman the conduct of a preliminary investigation against Lapeña, Baquiran, De Guzman, Morales and Cajucom for violation of Article 208 of the Revised Penal Code for failure to impose sanctions or penalize BOC officers involved in the controversy.