Tuesday, October 03, 2006 PDEA chief confirms transfer of shabu precursor
REP. Antonio Cuenco will summon all persons who could give information leading to the filing of charges against those responsible in the illegal P3.65-billion pseudoephedrine importation in 2004.
Cuenco, vice chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, said they will focus on the integrity of the evidence.
The pseudoephedrine was placed in oak barrels when this was turned over by the Bureau of Customs to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). The chemical was already transferred to about 60 sacks when they inspected it.
“I will ask PDEA officials why they failed to file charges against those involved after two years,” said Cuenco (Cebu City, south).
In an interview with radio dyLA yesterday, former PDEA director general Anselmo Avenido confirmed that the pseudoephedrine was transferred from the oak barrels to sacks when this was turned over by BOC to PDEA.
But he said he cannot remember having ordered the transfer.
Rep. Roque Ablan, the chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs also told dyLA that the pseudoephedrine was bound for Australia and that the Australians who participated in the transshipment were already arrested and convicted in Australia.
Right person
Among those who will be summoned to a congressional inquiry are National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Deputy Director Reynaldo Esmeralda and Capt. Isidro Estrera, Bureau of Customs (BOC) enforcement and security service district commander.
But Estrera said Danny Gonzales, the whistle blower who received P100,000 reward money from the Cebu City Government, is the right person to shed light on the matter.
Gonzales is now the Port of Cagayan de Oro deputy district commander.
Esmeralda, on the other hand, said he will attend the congressional inquiry to trace the evidence they had turned over to PDEA.
As then acting director of NBI 7, he said he initiated the investigation by taking the statements of customs officials and gathered the importation documents. The consignee was identified as Coastside Ventures Inc. which was given an import permit by PDEA.
Lawyer Clarence Paul Oaminal, a PDEA consultant, said the pseudoephedrine should have been retained in Cebu as evidence because if there is any case filed, it should be in Cebu.
Oaminal said the pseudoephedrine was a transshipment from China to Cebu. It’s final stop: Australia.
He said that from China, the shipment was under surveillance by Australian authorities and Filipino contacts with sophisticated listening device provided for by the Australian authorities.
However, the surveillance operations bogged down when Gonzales announced the illegal shipment. (EOB)
