Manila court sentences Taiwanese to jail term for possession of shabu

A Taiwanese, said to be a member of an international drug syndicate, was convicted yesterday by a Manila court after he was found guilty of trafficking shabu.

He was arrested three years ago after shabu, stashed in a can of powdered milk, was seized in his condominium unit in Tondo.

The accused, Wu Liangquil alias Jack Go was sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison by Manila Judge Teresita Soriaso based on the testimony of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents that some 218 grams of shabu were found inside his house.

The operation was a follow-up to an earlier buy-bust operation in a Quezon City mall that resulted in the confiscation of two kilos of the illegal substance.

Aside from Wu, the NBI had actually set out to arrest three members of the alleged Taiwan-based drug syndicate identified as Alvin Co, Ador Co, and Charlie Ng alias Tony Ng, but the three managed to elude the operatives.

Court records did not specifically identify the Taiwan-based drug group although sources noted that the 14-K drug syndicate is the Chinese island-province’s most notorious gang.

The arrest came after the NBI received a tip on the drug trafficking activities of the four Taiwanese prompting the NBI to organize the buy-bust operation but the drug dealers were able to detect their impending arrest and fled.

The NBI informant then led the raiding team to the condominium unit of Wu at the Intercast Tower at 2230 Jose Abad Santos, Tondo.

Wu was not around when the NBI men came to his apartelle but persistence of the operatives paid off when Wu later arrived home. The NBI men were armed with a search warrant.

Subsequent search by the NBI of Wu’s unit resulted in the seizure of the shabu inside a can of powdered milk.

In his defense, Wu denied the charges.