Overstaying Taiwanese caught with drugs, guns

Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed illegal possession of firearms and illegal drugs against an overstaying Taiwanese businessman after he was caught in possession of assorted firearms, ammunition and P150,000 worth of party drugs.

NBI Assistant Director Nestor Mantaring said the problems of 51-year-old Chen Tung Hsing with the Bureau of Immigration (BI) was compounded by the items recovered from his house in Bel Air 2 Village, Makati City.

Mantaring said the drug charges filed against Chen was non-bailable. He is now detained at an NBI facility.

Chen arrived last June 29 and was allowed a 59-day stay in the country. He was supposed to leave the country on Nov. 14.

NBI head agent Rafael Ragos of the NBI-Criminal Intelligence Division (CRID) said they failed to arrest Chen’s compatriot Tseng Feng Tung, who was not at the house during the operation.

Items found in his house included a Garand rifle, a 9mm Jericho pistol, a caliber .22 pen gun with silencer and assorted ammunition. He had no license for any of the firearms.

Also seized were 10 ketamine vials, one gram of dried marijuana leaves, 0.2 grams of shabu, three improvised burners, a water pipe, bottle of methyl alcohol, five aluminum strips, two aluminum rolls and a plastic sealer.

"Ketamine is a party drug like Ecstasy and can be taken in the form of injectibles or tablets. From a vial, one can produce 10 to 15 tablets which can be sold at P1,000 each," Ragos said.

Special Investigator 3 Glenn Acal said that the suspect claimed he was a scion of a wealthy and influential family in Taiwan. He said his family is the exclusive distributor of luxury vehicles in progressive areas in Taiwan. In the Philippines, the suspect said he runs a spare parts business and is a subcontractor for infrastructure projects.

Earlier, Ragos had iformed NBI Deputy Director for Intelligence Service Edmund Arugay that they received a report about two foreigners allegedly engaged in gun smuggling and were keeping several firearms at their house in Makati City.

The CRID conducted a two-week surveillance against the suspects and applied for a search warrant from Executive Judge Eugenio Antonio, of Branch 24 of the Manila City Regional Trial Court (MCRTC). They conducted the raid last Nov. 23 and were assisted by operatives from the Makati City police.

Chen admitted owning the rifle, but denied the illegal drugs was his.

He said the the substance was found in the room of his friend Tseng.

"A friend of mine told me not to touch it because it was bad. It was found in another room in my house and not in my room," Cheng said.