Taguba lawyer will question ‘unwarranted’ charges in court

Customs fixer Mark Taguba II testifying at the Senat. (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The camp of Customs broker Mark Ruben Taguba II, who surrendered on Wednesday to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), said it would challenge in court the “unwarranted” charges filed against him over a P6.4 billion shipment of shabu from China that slipped past the Bureau of Customs.

“The issuance of a warrant is a natural legal process when a criminal information is filed,” lawyer Raymund Fortun told INQUIRER.net in a text message on Wednesday evening. “Mark Taguba will exercise the same legal remedies to extinguish this unwarranted suit.”

Taguba surrendered to NBI operatives after the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 46 ordered his arrest for importation of dangerous drugs in violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

NBI spokesman Ferdinand Lavin said Taguba was served his arrest warrant inside his Senate detention cell.

As of this posting, Taguba was on his way to the NBI headquarters in Manila. /atm