BOC checking info on visit of US state senator to Iligan

MANILA, Philippines - Customs intelligence agents are checking reports that a California state senator arrested on charges of smuggling high-powered arms to the US from the Philippines had visited Iligan City two years ago.

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) director Alejandro Estomo said they have received reports that California state senator Leland Yee went to Iligan City with co-accused Wilson Lim, a Filipino-American dentist based in Daly City, and other unidentified people.

“They went there just like other tourists,” he said.

Estomo said Lim reportedly has relatives in Iligan City. 

“According to our sources, but we have yet to confirm this, Lim is from there,” he said.

“He still has brothers and sisters living in that area... The information that we received is that his family is well off. They are businessmen, professionals in the family.” 

Estomo said they are conducting an “internal check” to see if Customs personnel had conspired in the alleged illegal activities of Yee.

So far their investigation has not yielded any positive results, he added.

Estomo said the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is continuing with the investigation despite the negative results.

“We are continuously monitoring the allegations that guns are being smuggled to the United States,” he said.

“It might have happened only once and they could have stopped. Gun smuggling is not an everyday activity.” 

A source told The STAR the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is looking into Yee’s connections in the Philippines. 

Another source said the will start after the US has given the NBI a copy of the Bureau of Investigation (FBI)report showing Yee’s illegal activities.

The FBI report was supposed to reach the NBI office yesterday.

Last March 27, the FBI arrested Yee after a series of raids in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento.

Unconfirmed reports said some members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were routinely selling weapons to rebels and other armed bands.

Investigators said Yee discussed helping an undercover FBI agent get weapons worth between $500,000 and $2.5 million, including shoulder-fired missiles.

In an affidavit, FBI agent Emmanuel Pascua talked of how Yee explained the entire process of acquiring weapons from a Philippine military captain and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and bringing them to the US. – With Aie Balagtas See