PDEA probes drug link between Ang, Ali Omar

MANILA, Philippines – One of Region 3’s biggest shabu dealer who was arrested by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operatives in Iba, Zambales Friday can be turned into a state witness if he can provide information that will lead to the arrest of Subic’s Anthony Ang.

Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Chairman Vicente Sotto III said Ali Omar, the president of a Muslim association in the province, may be able to provide the government a way to collar the Chinese national who tried to smuggle in more than 7,000 kilos of shabu into the country last year.

“The rule is that the most guilty is the only one who cannot be turned into a state witness, a state witness doesn’t necessarily have to be the least guilty,” he told The STAR in an interview.

Sotto said Omar might actually have information that can help result in the arrest of Ang and other members of the illegal drug syndicate operating in Zambales.

“There is a big possibility that they are connected. We are led to believe that it (Ang’s shabu shipment in 2008) was not his first. Common sense would dictate that they’ve done it before,” he said.

“For them to operate, the common practice is that they dispose of the illegal drugs right away. Sotto, however, noted that the power to make a suspect or an accused a state witness is with the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“If it will strategize the approach, they will do so,” he said adding that the DDB need not even recommend for such a strategy to be adopted because prosecutors will be the ones to determine the same.

Sotto said intelligence information on Ang’s whereabouts still cannot establish if the alleged Chinese drug trafficker is still in the Philippines or has fled to mainland China but assured that both leads are being pursued.

PDEA Director General Dionisio Santiago said Omar’s connection with other drug dealers in Zambales is definitely being looked into.

“We’re still investigating (the possible link). That is part of the investigation being conducted in Subic (Ang) case,” he said.