SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority’s Law Enforcement Department (SBMA-LED) and Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group-Task Force Subic (PASG-TFS) agents confiscated some P4.62 billion worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu after a foiled attempt to smuggle the illegal drugs into Subic.

PASG chief Antonio Villar Jr. and SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza on Wednesday presented to the media a batch of high-grade crystalline substance that they sais was shabu, that operatives seized from Anthony “Anton” Ang, a Chinese living in Olongapo City.

Ang, who reportedly owns Wah Lung International Inc., a trading company registered here since October 2007, allegedly tried to smuggle some 90 kilos of shabu on Sunday night, passing off the contraband contained in eight sealed carton boxes as “computer parts.”

Subsequent investigation led government men to a warehouse of Ang’s trading company, where 60 more boxes of shabu were found.

In all, 770 kilograms of the illegal drugs were seized, authorities said. With high-grade shabu fetching as much as P6 million per kilo, the haulcould be worth P4.62 billion, Villar added.

Arreza said SBMA law enforcers caught on Ang on Sunday night when a patrol noticed a suspicious-looking vehicle moving around the SRF Compound here at about 8 p.m.

The SBMA patrol later tailed the red Mitsubishi Outlander, with license plate number RAE-615, to the Riviera Pier, where it parked alongside a docked Taiwanese fishing vessel, identified as F/B Shun Fa Xing.

Thereafter, the vessel’s crew began offloading boxes and loading them to the parked vehicle. SBMA officials said the fishing vessel was not supposed to have any cargo, as attested by the inward manifest provided by the Bureau of Customs.

When the vehicle tried to leave through the SRF gate, the SBMA patrol, along with the gate guards, stopped the driver, who turned out to be Ang.

Questioned at the law enforcement office, however, Ang reportedly refused to open the eight sealed boxes, claiming they contained “sensitive computer parts.”

Ang was allowed to leave the investigation office later, but the boxes he tried to bring out were detained, pending documentation.

Authorities said Ang returned on Monday to claim the cargo, but failed again to present documents certifying their contents, and even refused to sign an acknowledgement declaring they were “computer parts.”

Ang reportedly asked for more time to produce the documents, but failed to return, the PASG said.

On Tuesday, authorities decided to open the boxes and found packets of a crystalline substance that subsequent analysis showed it was shabu.

The discovery prompted the authorities to raid the Wah Lung warehouse where more boxes of shabu were found.

Two more bags containing 20 kilos of shabu were also fished out of the water near Riviera Pier as Villar and Arreza held a press conference here on Wednesday morning.

Villar said Ang has been under surveillance by PASG-TFS for some time now because of suspicion that he was involved in the illegal importation of cigarettes and liquor.

Arreza added that Ang even tried to bribe PASG and SBMA agents P50 million to let him off the hook. The operatives turned down the bribe, he added.

The agents also reported that Ang’s residence at 65 Davidson Street, barangay West Bajac-bajac, Olongapo City had apparently been vacated by Ang and his family.

Villar said he will ask for the immediate release of a hold-departure order against Ang and his family to prevent them from going out of the country.

He added that the Vietname-registered fishing vessel used in transporting the illegal drugs has been grounded, and that the confiscated drugs will be turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for disposal.

AI notes dramatic decrease in human-rights violations

AMNESTY International (AI) on Wednesday noted the “dramatic decrease in the number of victims of extrajudicial killings in 2007 compared with the previous records in 2005 and 2006.”

FORMER elections chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. was a no-show on Wednesday’s continuation of the hearing on the controversial $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Co. at the Office of the Ombudsman, creating tension among lawyers of the contending parties.

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority’s Law Enforcement Department (SBMA-LED) and Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group-Task Force Subic (PASG-TFS) agents confiscated some P4.62 billion worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu after a foiled attempt to smuggle the illegal drugs into Subic.

A PALL of gloom descended over the House of Representatives on Wednesday as the body of labor leader and party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran, more popularly known as Ka Bel, of Anakpawis lay at the plenary hall where a Mass and necrological service were held before the militant legislator was laid to rest in Bulacan.

TO mitigate the effects of the skyrocketing price of petroleum products on the country’s economy, legislators have proposed the implementation of energy-conservation measures such as carpooling and reducing government working days to four.

THE environment group Greenpeace, together with several legislators, on Wednesday urged the government to adopt a national energy program that would harness the massive renewable- energy potentials of the country while reducing its dependence on dirty energy resources, particularly coal.

THE Swedish minister for migration and asylum, Tobias Billstrom, said his government is working with other Schengen member-countries of the European Union in their embassies in Manila to accept and process short-stay visas to Sweden, amid possible constraints on the visa application of Filipinos traveling that country owing to the closure of its embassy here starting next month.

THE appointment of former Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon as head of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process may adversely affect the ongoing peace process, citing the military official’s bad human-rights record.