Alleged brains in illegal VCD manufacture nabbed

Three Chinese nationals, believed to be undocumented aliens and alleged brains in the illegal manufacturer of some P150 million worth of seized VCDs, were arrested by a combined team of government law enforcers in the raid of yet again another warehouse yesterday in Valenzuela City.

Northern Police District Office (NPDO) chief, Senior Superintendent Marcelino Franco Jr., identified the suspects as Huang Shang Ti, Jiang Ming Zhi and Zheng Huo Yan, with ages between 20 and 25, all three natives of Mainland China. The suspects talked to police through interpreter Samson Co while under tactical interrogation.

Armed with a search warrant issued by the Valenzuela regional trial court, the raiders led by members of the Valenzuela Police under Superintendent Jose Marcelo, city police chief; the local fire station under Chief Inspector Efren Yadao, City fire marshal; and the Videogram Regulatory Board (VRB) headed by Ramon Revilla Jr. swooped down on the warehouse at around 2 p.m. at 9 Dizon Compound, Maisan Road, Valenzuela City.

Yadao said the warehouse has been under surveillance on suspicion it was involved in illegal operations. Yadao said they became suspicious when they earlier attempted to enter the compound for a routine inspection of the premises and the warehouse for fire safety compliance. They were allegedly refused entry despite identifying themselves. This prompted them and the local police to case the warehouse and validate their suspicion.

This operation, Franco said, is one of the bigger illegal firms manufacturing pirated CDs in Valenzuela City. Late last year, VRB and the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) raided a warehouse in Barangay Ugong, Valenzuela City and confiscated some P300-million worth of fake CDs and equipment. The raid also led to the arrest of some seven undocumented aliens from Mainland China. Fake cigarettes worth several millions of pesos were also seized in a raid at the Pabaya Compound in Barangay Mapulang Lupa, also in Valenzuela.

In the biggest illegal drug haul ever made by the authorities in mid-December last year, a fire razed a warehouse and exposed the existence of a shabu laboratory that yielded some P2.2 billion in drugs, raw material and equipment. The alleged tenant-lessee identified as Wang Yashi and a Deng Xiao Li eluded arrest and have been reported to have already flown out of the country. The warehouse owners, Lee Yuk Sau, who told probers he was not aware of the laboratory’s existence, was released by the police allegedly "for further investigation.