MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) served on Monday a freeze order on P70 million worth of Quezon City real estate owned by two drug suspects.
Wilkins Villanueva, director general of the PDEA, said the two properties belonged to Julie Hao Gamboa and former Customs police officer Ruben Taguba.
They were included in the May 27 freeze order by the Court of Appeals on the suspects’ 173 bank accounts and insurance policies, 17 properties and five motor vehicles.
The PDEA said Gamboa was an alleged cohort of Chinese national Xu Zhi Jian, also known as Jacky Co, in smuggling 276 kilograms of shabu (crystal meth) worth P1.8 billion from Vietnam.
The shipment was intercepted at Manila International Container Port in March 2019 by the PDEA and the Bureau of Customs.
On the other hand, Taguba was probed for smuggling 602 kg of shabu seized on May 2017 from a warehouse in Valenzuela City.