Subic not a drug transshipment hub SBMA

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) denied reports attributed to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that the freeport has become a transshipment point of illegal drugs from several countries in Asia.

“To say that Subic has become a transshipment hub just because of one shipment is an exaggeration. It is also grossly unfair, particularly to the SBMA patrol who was instrumental in breaking the case,” said SBMA Administrator and Chief Executive Officer Armand Arreza in the wake of PDEA claims that Subic is being used by international drug syndicates as a transshipment point of illegal drugs.

PDEA director Dionisio Santiago said the seizure in Subic of 770 kilograms of shabu last Wednesday proves that the freeport is being used as a transshipment point of drugs.

PASG chief Antonio Villar Jr. said he has ordered a manhunt for the owner of the company that allegedly smuggled the illegal drugs.

PASG has also coordinated with the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for the issuance of a hold-departure order against the suspect, said Villar.

Arreza explained that in the past 15 years that the Subic Bay Freeport has existed, this was the first time a drug smuggling incident happened, saying that this is just an isolated case.

He said an SBMA patrol had initially intercepted the illegal drugs, proving the diligence of law enforcers in preventing illegal activities in Subic.

“PDEA should not blame law enforcers in Subic if anti-narcotics agents find it difficult to operate here,” Arreza said in reaction to Santiago’s claim that teamwork among law enforcement agencies is not solid.

He said that as a freeport, Subic is primarily under the jurisdiction of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG), which recently took over operational control of Task Force Subic (TFS), the anti-smuggling unit here.

“The SBMA is willing to cooperate with any agency, as we closely work together with the PASG,” he added.

Arreza also stressed that Subic has one of the highest levels of security found in any economic zone in the country.

This has proven to be a great deterrent to criminal syndicates wanting to exploit the freeport status of Subic, he added.

Arreza said SBMA law enforcers discovered the smuggling try when they chanced upon the suspicious offloading on the night of May 25 of eight boxes from F/B Shun Fa Xing, a Taiwanese fishing boat docked at Subic’s Riviera Pier.

Anthony Ang, a Chinese who resides in Olongapo City, tried to bring the boxes out of Subic’s SRF Compound where it was initially declared that the boxes contained sensitive computer parts.

Ang, one of the owners of the Subic import-export firm Hualong International Inc., reportedly went into hiding together with his family after failing to provide documents for the cargo, prompting PASG-TFS and SBMA-LED to open the boxes on Tuesday.

The eight boxes turned out to each contain five packs of shabu weighing at least 90 kilos.

Subsequent operations led to the discovery of more shabu at the Hualong warehouse, as well as another vehicle parked near the building. On Wednesday afternoon, joint PASG-SBMA operatives said they had already seized a total of 770 kilos of the illegal drug.