Shabu courier gets life sentence

The Court of Appeals (CA) has sentenced to life imprisonment a namesake of self-confessed jueteng bagwoman Sandra Cam for the seizure of 247 kilograms of shabu with an estimated street value amounting to P492. 4 million inside her residence in Pasay City in December 2000.

In an 80-page decision penned by Associate Justice Celia Librea-Leagogo, the CA’s 14th division found Sandra Lim, aka Sandra Cam, guilty of violating Section 16, Article III of Republic Act 6425 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972.

The CA affirmed with modification the guilty verdict dated March 11, 2003 handed down by the Pasay City Regional Trial Court.The CA also ordered her to pay P5 million, instead of the P1 million fine set by the Pasay RTC in its March 11, 2003 ruling.

Court records showed that the NBI seized inside Room 706 of Somerset Tower Condominium along Leveriza street shabu or methamphetamine hydrocchloride weighing 187.33 kilograms contained in 325 bags, dimethylamphetamine hydrochloride weighing 49.26 kilograms contained in 49 bags, ephedrine hydrochloride weighing 8.5 kilograms contained in eight bags, dimethylamphetamine hydrochloride and methamphetamine hydrochloride weighing 0.65 kilograms contained in one bag, and methamphetamine hydrochloride and ephedrine weighing 1.02 kilograms contained in one bag or a total of 246.24 kilograms.

On Dec. 10, 2001, Assistant Regional Director Reynaldo Esmeralda requested Assistant City Prosecutor Bernabe Augustus Solis of Pasig City to file a motion for the early destruction of the 246.24 kilograms of shabu at the San Lazaro Crematorium to be attended by the presiding Judge, trial prosecutor, secretary of Justice, NBI director, PNP narcotics group director, executive director of the Dangerous Drugs Board, chief of the NBI forensic chemistry division and representatives from non government organizations.

The Pasig RTC ordered the destruction of multi-million peso shabu on May 3, 2002.

The discovery of the multi-million peso shabu inside Room 706 of Somerset Tower follows the arrest of a certain Jhun delos Santos on Dec. 26, 2000.

Court records showed that at around 12:45 pm of Dec. 26, 2000, Somerset head security Richard Zabat was conducting an inspection when he was informed by security guards Roger Fuentebella and Daisy Lopez that they were about to arrest Delos Santos for carrying a box containing seven plastic bags of shabu. Delos Santos, they later found out. was a former janitor of E-next services.

He said they immediately asked assistance from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) who then interrogated Delos Santos where he got the shabu. Delos Santos told the NBI that he ha d smuggled seven kilos of shabu from Room 706 of the Somerset Tower Condominium.

The NBI said that as early as June 2000, they received a confidential intelligence information that Room 706 of Somerset Tower Condominium was being used as storage of drugs syndicated engaged in large-scale distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. The area was placed under 24-hour surveillance and classified as DEAD, an intelligence term which means there are no indications of activity involving the distribution of drugs in the area.

The NBI said that Delos Santos tried to escape by transferring from Room 706 to Room 705, but was traced by the NBI.