Korean drug suspect to stay in jail — CIDG

The Korean national, who had been granted bail despite his being charged for possesion of a kilo of shabu, will continue to stay in jail.

Before suspect Tae Won Hong, alias Francis, could avail of the P500,000 bail bond set by a local court, Director Eduardo Matillano, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), whisked him to the Bureau of Immigration (BI) office, where he was charged for being an undocumented alien.

Matillano said Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo set no bail against Tae and ordered him immediately confined at the BI jail in Intramuros, Manila.

"The Korean national tried to put one over us, but Director Matillano beat him to the draw," Senior Superintendent Cipriano Querol Jr., chief of the CIDG Detection and Special Operations Division (DSOD), told The STAR.

Querol said Matillano ordered him to coordinate with Domingo after he briefed him Wednesday that Judge Leoncio Janolo Jr. of the Pasig City regional trial court (RTC) Branch 264 granted the suspect bail.

Tae, who was detained at the CIDG jail in Camp Crame, was brought to the BI headquarters at 6 p.m. that same day to deny him his temporary freedom and the possibility of escaping the country’s justice system.

The Korean national was arrested last Nov. 20 for possession of more than a kilo of shabu and equipment in pending illegal drugs during a raid by CIDG operatives at his rented condo unit at th Ortigas Center in Pasig City.

Possession of 10 grams of shabu is non-bailable under the amended drug law.

Janolo granted him bail on a mere technicality. In his two-page decision, the judge noted that while the raiders were armed with a search warrant, they failed to fully implement it. "This deviation from procedure which placed the accused into police custody prior to any successful search raised the issue of arrest without a warrant," he said.