Shabu shipment suspect Richard Tan tried to bribe Immigration — Aguirre

Richard Tan, aka Chen Ju Long and Richard Chen . INQUIRER file photo / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Chen Ju Long or Richard Tan, one of the respondents in the case of the P6.4 billion shabu shipment that slipped past the Bureau of Customs, has tried to bribe the Bureau of Immigration to allow him to leave the Philippines, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said Thursday.

“He wasn’t successful because our senior supervision officers rejected the bribe being offered,” Aguirre said in a Palace briefing.

Tan is the owner of the warehouse in Valenzuela City where the smuggled P6.4 billion worth of shabu from China was found.

Aguirre said Tan was included in the immigration lookout bulletin order.

“He has no impediment in leaving the country. But the only thing that is preventing him from leaving the country without any hitch is the ILBO, which we have issued. And so we didn’t know if he still persisted in trying to leave the country through some other means or with help of some people,” he said.

He said the Bureau of Immigration has not received any information that Tan was able to left the country.

“Wala pa namang information from the Bureau of Immigration that he left the country already. Kaya the presumption is still he is here,” he said.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had earlier filed a motion for reconsideration before the Valenzuela Regional Trial Court to reverse its decision to dismiss the smuggling charges against Tan, Manny Li, Kenneth Dong Yi, Customs fixer Mark Ruben Taguba II, Eirene Mae Tatad, Teejay Marcellana, Chen I-Min, Jhu Ming Jyun, Chen Rong Huan, and three other respondents. /je