Seizure order out vs yacht used in gun smuggling

Batangas City, Philippines – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Batangas has issued a warrant of seizure and detention for the yacht M/Y Mou Man Tai for allegedly violating the Customs and Tariff Code, officials said.

Lawyer Juan Tan, BOC-Batangas district collector, ordered Maj. Camilo Cascolan Jr., district commander of the Customs police, to seize the vessel, including the two Yamaha jet skis and motorized rubber boat on board it, by virtue of the seizure order issued yesterday.

Tan said the M/Y Mou Man Tai could have been used to smuggle high-powered guns from the Panamanian-registered vessel M/V Captain Ufuk, which was apprehended off the coast of Mariveles in Bataan last Aug. 21.

Customs and police authorities were able to seize at least 50 Galil-type firearms and assorted military accessories from the vessel. Several crates were found empty, their contents believed to have been unloaded on the M/Y Mou Man Tai.

Tan said the yacht was found owned by the Bakuganmark Corp. with postal address at #14 Gregorio Lingunan, Valenzuela City, Metro Manila, although upon verification, the postal address turned out to be fictitious.

“But we were able to apprehend the boat captain, identified as Derek Colin Gordon Nevill, a British national, (who had) no working permit to show,” Tan said.

After days of search, the Coast Guard found the yacht docked in the vicinity of Sitio Boquette, Barangay Sto. Niño in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro last Tuesday.

Authorities found out that the yacht was originally owned by Jose Antonio Nobre Catita, a Portuguese, and was sold to an American, Brian Lance Giles, on Feb. 13, 2004.

No firearms, however, were found on the yacht.

Tan said Nevill admitted to the Coast Guard that the yacht was used by M/V Captain Ufuk skipper Bruce Jones to escape from last week’s raid.

Tan said they have sufficient evidence to link the M/Y Mou Man Tai to the smuggling of firearms as they recovered maps from Nevill with markings of several locations where the M/V Captain Ufuk had docked.

Nevill avoided the media and demanded not to be photographed.