‘Drug suspect bribed his way to freedom’

Suspected drug kingpin William Gan was arrested thrice in the past, but he managed to regain his freedom by paying millions of pesos to anti-narcotics captors.

This was revealed by Gan himself during tactical interrogation by elements of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AID-SOTF) during which he also "itemized" the extent of his group’s multi-billion drug operations in the country.

Gan, who uses the aliases Willy Gan and James Go Ong, told interrogators that the last time he was "arrested" was March last year by elements of the Manila police.

Gan said he was released without the filing of necessary charges after he shelled out P3 million to his captors.

AID-SOTF chief Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay refused to name the Manila police official involved.

"This is the second time I have heard about this police official being involved in multi-million racket," Aglipay told The STAR.

He also refused to say what action AID-SOTF would be taking against the Manila police official and two other officers mentioned by Gan.

"But we will deal with them according to law," he said.

Gan and his live-in partner, Jia Shuxin, were arrested in front the San Lorenzo Ruiz Church in Binondo, Manila last Dec. 26. Gan and Jia are natives of Fujian, China.

The arrest was made by virtue of a mission order issued by the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID). The two were undocumented aliens.

Aglipay said Gan was a "major player" in the illegal drug trade in Metro Manila and the southern provinces.

The AID-SOTF chief said Gan was behind the operations of the raided shabu warehouses in Barangay Mapulang Lupa in Valenzuela City and Barangay Santolan in Pasig City. The raids yielded an estimated P2.3 billion of equipment and raw materials used to manufacture shabu.

Aglipay said ephedrine seized at the Manila International Container Port last Nov. 27 was also traced to Gan.

In a radio interview yesterday, Aglipay said Gan’s group are producing close to P10 billion worth of shabu a year.

He said Gan is cooperating fully with AID-SOTF in tracing his group’s other networks and assets in Metro Manila and the provinces.

"My men are working overtime conducting follow-up operations based on the information provided them by Gan," Aglipay said as he promised more arrests and raids in the coming days.

Two more international drug syndicates operating in the country are now the subject of intensive operations and intelligence build-up by AID-SOTF.

Aglipay revealed that the operations of Gan reached as far as Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Guam.

He said the Philippine National Police is coordinating with counterparts in the region so they can establish the identities of other members of Gan’s syndicate.

"Gan was the top leader in the country. There are still others, all Chinese, but they come and go," Aglipay said. – With Christina Mendez