Raps vs ‘CIA agent’ shelved

DAVAO CITY – The Davao City regional trial court has shelved the charges of illegal possession of explosives against a British-American treasure hunter who is believed to be an operative of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

RTC Branch 13 Judge Isaac Robillo has ordered that the charges against Michael Terrence Meiring be archived because he is known to have been spirited out of the country after he was injured in an explosion inside his hotel room here last year.

Despite the shelving of the case, however, Robillo ruled that the case against Meiring be revived when authorities have him in their custody.

Meiring, 65, a surgeon from California, was supposedly a CIA agent posing as a treasure hunter. He allegedly had been operating in Mindanao since the early 1990s.

The charges of illegal possession of explosives were filed against Meiring after he was seriously injured in an explosion last May 16, 2002 inside his room at the Evergreen Hotel. Authorities found boxes of dynamite inside Meiring’s room which led to the filing of the charges. Evergreen Hotel also filed a P2-million damage case against Meiring for the destruction the explosion caused in the hotel.

Initial reports bared Meiring accidentally ignited one of the sticks of dynamite that caused the blast that wounded his legs, hands and face.

However, Meiring was supposedly spirited out of the country by agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation while he was undergoing treatment at a hospital here.

Meiring was said to have been airlifted to Manila and later treated at the Makati Medical Center after which he was said to have been flown back to California.

A hold-departure order was issued against Meiring despite persistent reports he was already back in California.