Chinese trio’s lawyer questions NBI condo raid

Three Chinese nationals recently arrested in Manila have asked the court to nullify the search warrant used by the National Bureau of Investigation to raid their condo unit, where government agents said they found a stash of illegal drugs.

In a motion to quash filed in Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32, the defense counsel of Shenghua Zhang, Xiang Zhang and Zhi Wen Wang said the warrant issued on Aug. 8 by Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina of the same branch was used “anomalously to suit the illegal purpose” of the NBI.

Lawyer Ricardo Valmonte argued that the NBI agents who staged the Aug. 13 raid on a unit at Altaco Building, Sto. Cristo, Binondo, prevented a third party from witnessing the search because they drove away a village watchman who was also there for the operation.

Valmonte said the watchman, after being told to leave, went to report the matter to barangay councilors Anthony Yu and Benito Go so they could witness the raid. But when the councilors went to the condo, at least eight NBI agents were already inside the suspects’ unit.

The local officials were told by the agents to wait in the hallway until media crew members arrived. But an hour passed and none came, Valmonte said, quoting the councilors.

The NBI later said 10 sachets of suspected “shabu,” four white tablets, a sachet of brown powder, two sachets of shabu residue and drug paraphernalia were found in the unit.

Joel Tovera, head of the NBI’s Anti-Illegal Drug Division, earlier described the arrested Chinese as the suppliers of illegal drugs at a videoke bar in Binondo and another in Pampanga.

They worked for a syndicate that sold drugs to their compatriots whom they would also kidnap and kill if they did not pay for the drugs, Tovera said. TVJ