2 Taiwanese gunrunners, 9 cohorts arrested in Subic

Two Taiwanese nationals believed to be members of an international gun smuggling syndicate and their nine Filipino "contacts" were arrested by agents of the maritime police and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in a beach resort in Subic, Zambales at dawn yesterday while about to smuggle 96 assorted high-powered firearms to their home country and Japan.

The suspects who could barely speak English, were identified as Lee Chin Jung and Theng Wen Wo, both of Taipei, Taiwan who were staying in a rented house in Sunset Village, Parañaque City.

Their Filipino contacts arrested with them were identified as Narciso Urangan, Richard Dano, Lino Asis, Raymundo Rosales, Roberto Baniel, Ben Matias, Marvin Obispo, former Chief Insp. Roger Asuncion and Tux Altarez. They reportedly assisted the Taiwanese in transporting and loading the firearms on a fishing boat docked at Playa del Sol Beach Resort, Barangay Kawang in Subic. They were all presented by PNP chief Director General Panfilo Lacson to media at Camp Crame.

When interviewed, crew members of the seized fishing boat all denied they were involved in gun smuggling activities in Subic. They claimed that the two Taiwanese hired them and their fishing boat the F/B Regla at P1,500 per hour purportedly for a four-day diving expedition of the coast of Silangin Point also in Subic.

"We were asked to load several heavy bags from a Kia Besta van which arrived from Manila, into our boat, believing that these were diving gear," Rosales, the boat captain said.

He added that they were busy loading the "diving gear" when their attention was caught by automatic gunfire coming from different directions in the beach, only to realize later that it was a police raid.

Lacson said the arms shipment placed inside 15 ordinary grab bags were intended to be picked up on the high seas by an ocean-going vessel off the coast of Subic when intercepted at about 5:30 a.m. by police operatives headed by Senior Superintendent Raul Bacalzo, CIDG-NCR chief.

The cache included an array of genuine Sigsauers, Glocks, Berettas and HK9mm pistols, AR-16s, Jennings caliber 22, Sterling, MP-5 sub-machineguns, Baby Armalites, shotguns of various makes, and about 10,000 rounds of live ammunition.

Police agents also took custody of the suspect’s fishing boat and a Kia Besta van utilized in the aborted smuggling.

P200,000 cash was recovered from one of the suspects.