Ties to syndicate being checked: Taiwanese faces gun raps

CEBU, Philippines - The Aviation Security Group-7 filed yesterday a criminal complaint against the Taiwanese national arrested at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport last Thursday afternoon for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

Chao Ching Hung, 35, was escorted by AVSEGROUP-7 personnel to the Lapu-Lapu City Hall of Justice in going to the City Prosecutor’s Office around 2:45 p.m.

Hung, who had no lawyer beside him, would only say “No English” when reporters attempted to interview him.

Prosecutor Dinah Jane Portugal did a closed-door inquest proceedings on him in her office.

Senior Superintendent Joselito Salido, AVSEGROUP-7 chief, said the Taiwanese Embassy has responded to their call and sent a list of lawyers from a Taiwanese law firm to serve as Hung’s legal counsels.

“He will be behind bars at the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office detention cell until his lawyer will come here in Cebu,” Salido said.

Hung who was bound for Manila via a Cebu Pacific flight for a connecting flight to Taiwan, was blocked by Office of Transportation Security screening officers around 4:05 p.m. during an initial security screen check due to a suspicious item inside his navy blue suitcase that was revealed by the x-ray scanner.

The item was a lead blanket that concealed a KG-9 gun with two magazines, a 9 mm Beretta pistol with a magazine, and 100 bullets.

Salido said they are looking deeper into Hung’s background to see whether or not he is involved in a gun-smuggling syndicate in Taiwan.

The firearms authorities seized were all homemade and have no legal documents, which points to their source as possibly the illegal gun-makers in Danao City, Cebu.

“Whether or not a Taiwanese syndicate is behind (the attempt to smuggle guns), this is still something that we have to confirm or verify,” he said. – Christell Fatima M. Tudtud/RHM (FREEMAN)