Chinese gets life for 3.9 kilos of shabu

MANILA, Philippines - A Chinese national was meted life imprisonment yesterday for possessing 3.9 kilos of shabu during a police raid on his rented apartment in Quezon City seven years ago.

Judge Fernando Sagun Jr. of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 78 also ordered Zhong Mei Chen, alias Mei Cheng, to pay a fine of P2.5 million and the cost of the suit.

Sagun gave weight to the testimonies of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) over Zhong’s denial.

Deputy director general Emil Sarmiento, AIDSOTF chief, said Zhong’s conviction was made possible by the “straightforward, candid and generally consistent testimonies of the police raiders, even during the time they were cross-examined.”

Zhong and six other Chinese were arrested during a raid conducted by AIDSOTF on a house on Rest Haven street in Barangay Bungad on July 29, 2005. Sarmiento said AIDSOTF personnel recovered inside a cabinet a brown bag containing four brown envelopes loaded with shabu.

Zhong claimed he was working as a helper in Baclaran, Parañaque City and was on his way to the apartment to bring a check to pay the rent when he was arrested by policemen. He denied having anything to do with the confiscated illegal drugs, hinting that the police raiders “planted them.”

However, Archie David testified that it was Zhong who was the caretaker of the house owned by his parents. It was Zhong who paid him the rent, said David.

Sagun, in his decision, said the defense of “frameup, like denial and alibi” is a common ploy used by drug suspects. He ordered the seized illegal drugs be transmitted to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for destruction and proper disposition.