NarcGroup, DOJ in close watch to halt escape of drug traffickers

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez and Narcotics Group (NarcGroup) chief Director Efren Fernandez met over the weekend to work out ways to prevent Chinese drug traffickers from "escaping justice" in the country.

The meeting of Perez and Fernandez came following the controversial release from jail of Cu Un Hai, alias Carlito Co who was arrested for possession of 15 kilos of shabu and the granting of bail to five Chinese chemists behind the operations of a makeshift shabu laboratory in Pasig City.

During their meeting held at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila, he and Perez agreed to strengthen their cooperation to effect the conviction of Chinese nationals believed to be behind the proliferation of shabu in the country, said Fernandez.

"We discussed what went wrong in the cases involving Cu and the five Chinese chemists and came up with actions to be taken in the future to prevent the same mistakes from occurring," said Fernandez in an interview. "We agreed to help each other to make sure the Chinese drug traffickers cannot escape justice."

Also discussed in the meeting was for the DOJ to provide NarcGroup with prosecutors in all cases involving Chinese drug traffickers, which Perez was fully supportive of, he said.

The NarcGroup chief said Perez also agreed to investigate reports that millions changed hands before Cu was released and the five Chinese chemists were granted bail.

Reports reaching the NarcGroup showed that the five Chinese chemists shelled out P12 million for their temporary liberty while the three companions of Cu claimed he bribed his way out to the tune of P7 million. The five Chinese chemists were rearrested for their being undocumented aliens.

An investigation conducted by Chief Inspector Eduardo Villena, NarcGroup’s legal officer showed that a number of prosecutors and judges are facing charges before the Ombudsman for their alleged irregular handling of cases involving Chinese drug traffickers.

Armed with Villena’s report, Fernandez said his meeting with Perez was timely to prevent the repeat of the release of Cu and the granting of bail to the five Chinese chemists will not happen again.

"We are religiously doing our job but if the Chinese nationals we caught were released or were granted bail under mysterious circumstances, all our effort will be brought to naught," said Fernandez.

Fernandez explained that despite the recent developments, his men were in high spirits and all raring to go to rid the country of Chinese drug traffickers.