Guban will be moved to NBI after Senate ends probe on P11-B ‘shabu’

Resigned Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban will be transferred to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after the Senate wraps up its investigation into the smuggling of at least 1-ton “shabu” purportedly hidden in four magnetic lifters eventually found by anti-drug agents in Cavite.

The illegal drug was initially assessed to be about 1 ton and worth P6.8 billion. But the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has revised its estimates on Thursday, saying the contraband could reach 1.6 tons and likely valued at P11 billion.

READ: PDEA chief now says magnetic lifters contained P11B ‘shabu’

“Senator [Richard] Gordon and I have agreed to transfer custody of a vital witness, Jimmy Guban to the NBI upon termination of the Senate inquiry,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Thursday.

Guevarra added that Guban shall also be considered for coverage under the Witness Protection Program (WPP) “upon full compliance with all the requirements under the WPP law.”

Earlier Thursday, Gordon said Guban has been in “voluntary confinement” at the Senate as he has become a witness to the illegal shipment of illegal drug.

READ: Senate won’t ‘turn over’ yet drug witness Guban

Guban has been linked to the smuggling of the contraband after he admitted receiving P10,000 to find the consignee-for-hire that would receive the magnetic lifters where the mutli-billion-pesos worth of shabu were supposedly concealed.

“The NBI will conduct further investigation on the basis of the Senate committee report and file the appropriate complaints as the evidence will warrant,” Guevarra noted. /kga

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