Prestado told reporters that he and a composite team of law enforcement agents left last Monday to get Sheryl Destada, 22, who has been serving as a drug courier for the syndicate since July last year.
Prestado and Destada are reportedly hiding at a safehouse in Metro Manila and that efforts are being made to secure another witness, Prestado’s godfather, Claudio Lopez. The two new witnesses were at first hesitant to come out in the open and waited for Pestado to secure himself.
They are now planning to seek help from the Public Attorneys Office (PAO), which could ask the National Bureau of Investigation to provide them with security following evaluation of Prestado’s statements.
Prestado claimed it took him more than a month, since he sought the Napolcom’s help on Sept. 3, to convince the two other witnesses to come out. He said he hopes the statements of the two new witnesses will support his allegations and dispel his critics, who have described him as an unreliable.
Destada, in a six-page handwritten affidavit, narrated how a certain Joanne introduced her to a police official in La Union. She was hired to assist Joanne in the delivery of shabu to the northern provinces.
She claimed that the supply of drugs comes from Camp Crame and that the group has connections with alleged drug lord Benito Sy.