AUTHORITIES yesterday served a freeze order on the properties of two suspects in the 2019 smuggling of 276 kilos of shabu worth P1.8 billion at the Manila International Container Port.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), and Bureau of Customs served the order against Julie Hao Gambao, alias Kimberly; and Ruben Taguba based on a Court of Appeals order issued last May 27. The order also covered Taguba’s wife, Teresita.
The CA order covered 173 bank and credit accounts and insurance policies, 17 properties, and five vehicles of the suspects.
PDEA chief Wilkins Villanueva, AMLC executive director Mel Georgie Racela and BOC Deputy Commissioner Raniel Ramiro yesterday posted notices of the freeze order on two of the suspects’ properties in Quezon City estimated to be worth P70 million.
“The posting of preservation orders on the two properties sends a strong message to potential drug money launderers that despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, the PDEA, AMLC and BOC continue to intensify efforts against personalities belonging to the upper echelon of the drug trade,” said Villanueva.
PDEA and BOC operatives intercepted 276 kilos of shabu at the Manila International Container Port in Manila on March 22, 2019.
Replying to a question why the order was implemented only yesterday, PDEA spokesman Derrick Carreon said the order was challenged by the defendant’s lawyers.
“There were exchanges with the lawyers so it was not immediately implemented),” Carreon said
Chinese Xu Zhi Jian, alias Jacky Co, who owned the shipment, and 16 others were charged for the importation of the drugs. The case was also referred by PDEA and BOC to AMLC for investigation and filing of civil forfeiture and money laundering cases.
Gamboa is said to be a cohort of Jian in the smuggling of drugs and was said to be responsible for the release of 105 containers from the Port of Manila in 2018.
Taguba, a former customs police officer, is the father of Mark Taguba, the subject of a separate investigation involving the shipment of 602 kilos of shabu in Valenzuela City in May 2017.
Taguba has 21 properties registered under his name and has hundreds of millions of pesos in bank transactions using 21 different bank accounts. He was found to be maintaining a joint account with Gamboa and received 108 fund transfers worth P51.14 million from the latter’s personal account.
