NBI nabs Australian drug trafficker in Davao

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) announced on Thursday the arrest of an Australian national wanted in his country for drug trafficking.

NBI Director Dante A. Gierran identified the foreign national as Markis Scott Turner or Filip Novak.

Gierran said the Australian Government sought the provisional arrest of Turner thru Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II pursuant to Article 9 of the Treaty of Extradition between Australia and the Republic of the Philippines (PH-AU Extradition Treaty).

Turner is facing drug trafficking charges in his country for importing cocaine from Colombia to Australia.

Records of Turner’s case showed that between the period of January 2009 and May 2011, he imported about 71.6 kilograms of cocaine to Australia through his company CQE Materials and Handling.  The drugs were hidden inside the drums of hydraulic oil.

Then, in 2015, he went to the Philippines. Turner, using the name of Filip Novak, stayed in the Island Garden City of Samal in Davao City, where he was arrested by operatives of the NBI-International Operations Division on September 15, 2017.    /kga