Illegal drug raps vs 4 foreigners approved

The Department of Justice (DOJ) approved yesterday the filing of illegal drug charges against three Chinese nationals and a Taiwanese for operating one of the largest shabu factories in the country.

In a seven-page resolution, state prosecutor II Pablo Formaran III said Li Lan Yan (alias Jackson Dy), Wang Li Na, Li Tian Hua and Yang Ching Yi will be indicted in the Trece Martires, Cavite Regional Trial Court.

Formaran said the DOJ found probable cause to charge the four aliens for violation of Section 8, Article II of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, for the manufacture of dangerous drugs as well as controlled precursors and essential chemicals amounting to more than 800 kilograms.

"The presence of laboratory equipment, the controlled precursor, particularly ephedrine, consisting of 549.672 kilograms, and essential chemicals, the processed shabu and the shabu still in process or liquid form consisting of 295 kilograms and 2.5 liters, respectively, in the subject premises is prima facie proof of the manufacture of the dangerous drug," Forman said in his resolution.

Formaran said Li Lan and Yang did not refute the evidence against them, while the two other foreigners merely issued a denial which, he said, was a weak alibi.

Li Lan, Wang and Li Tian were arrested at a room of the Bayview International Hotel in Manila last July 24 by combined elements of the Philippine National Police and Bureau of Immigration.

During the interrogation, Li Lan’s driver, Moreto Aburido, tipped off the police about the group’s shabu laboratory in Barangay Kapipisa, Tanza, Cavite.

Police arrested Yang while he was trying to leave the place during the raid.