World’s largest Mexican Senaloa drug cartel infiltrated the Philippines; seized 84 kilos of shabu in Batangas’ ex Gov Leviste

Sinaloa drug cartel leaders Joaquin Guzman (left) and Valenzuela are seen in this August 2012 Reuters file photo. Guzman or "El Chapo" escaped from Mexican prison in 2001 and is tagged by Forbes as the most powerful criminal on the planet. Philippine police have confirmed that Sinaloa elements are now players in the multibillion illegal drugs industry in the country, with initial evidence of their presence found in a Christmas Day raid in a Batangas City compound. 

 

Mexican drug cartel operating in Philippines – PNP

 

Philippine police on Thursday (December 26) said they have detected evidence that the Mexican drug cartel is operating in the Philippines, with initial information indicating the cartel has started with financing operations of some Chinese and West African drug syndicates in the country.

 

Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Alan Purisima confirmed the bad news in a briefing Thursday at Camp Crame, saying police now hold evidence that some personalities of the Sinaloa drug cartel are operating in the country. According to Purisima, the archipelago's porous borders make tracking the multinational syndicates' operations harder.

 

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"Ngayon nakikita natin na nagsisimula pa lang sila. Kailangan aksyunan natin agad para hindi na tuluyang makapasok [Now, we see they're just starting out. We need to move fast so they won't get a firmer foothold]," Purisima said.

 

The PNP said it had not determined yet the exact number of cartel members who infiltrated the country. Part of the investigation is how the cartel was able to penetrate the country. "So, we are still in the process of determining what is the history behind the arrest of these people," Purisima said, referring to the Christmas Day raid on an illegal drugs operation in Batangas that confirmed the hand of Sinaloa cartel members.

 

At half past eight of Christmas morning, raiders seized 84 kilos of shabu worth ₱420 million from a compound owned by former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste in Barangay Inosloban, Batangas City.

 

A Chinese national, Gary Tan, and Filipino couple Argay and Rochelle Argenos were arrested at the compound located within the LPL (Lauro Panganiban Leviste) Ranch.

 

Purisima said a manhunt is on for a certain Jorge Torres, who had rented the Leviste compound.

 

The former governor Leviste was recently released on parole from the National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) after serving four years of his sentence for homicide in the killing of a top aide.

 

Purisima said PNP lawyers are checking the possible liability of the owner of the compound, Leviste, in the illegal drugs operation. President Aquino himself had directed Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to determine the circumstances behind the decision of the Board of Pardons and Parole to grant parole to Leviste, despite a highly publicized incident that showed him leaving his cell even without permission from prison officials or the court.

 

"We are studying the possibility of confiscating [the compound] in favor of the government because [it was] used for [illegal] drugs business…but we all know they were just leasing the property and we will be consulting our lawyers," Purisima, however, said.

 

Sinaloa leader most wanted US drug trafficker

 

The Mexican embassy declined to comment on the Philippine police's revelations

 

The Sinaloa cartel is reputed to be the largest source of illegal drugs to the United States.

 

Its main leader, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001. He is now America's most wanted drug trafficker, as well as being considered by Forbes as the most powerful criminal on the planet.

 

More than 77,000 people have been killed in Mexico in connection with organized crime since then-president Felipe Calderon launched a nationwide war against the cartels after taking office in 2006.

 

It's complicated - Purisima

 

Purisima admitted Sinaloa drug cartel's Philippine presence complicates the burdens of the PNP in checking the multibillion illegal drugs operations in the country. He explained why: "It will be more hard work. Actually, that's part of what we're studying.  We are 7,000 islands. If you go down south you can freely go to Sabah. Sometimes you don't even have to go through immigration. You just hop over to the next island and ride a banca. In our piers before, there were reports that containers were not opened, not checked, so we have suspicions but we do not have evidence. So there are so many ways of transporting drugs into our country and . . . sometimes we have seen laboratories also being set up in different parts of the country," Purisima said.

 

The initial investigation confirmed that the Mexicans (Sinaloa) "have a hand in the operations of the Chinese. The names used are Chinese. They have apparent collusion and of course, that's how they usually start, as a partnership, i.e., I finance the operations, you do the work, and later, we will go our separate ways," Purisima elaborated.

 

The head of the PNP's Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) said some teams have been deployed to hunt personalities involved in the operation of the Sinaloa drug cartel. "Previously, we have reports that the Mexicans are here…This is the first time that we have confirmed that Mexicans are already here," Senior Supt. Bartolome Tobias said.

 

"They are Mexicans and Chinese. There are other nationalities who are here pero hindi sila ganun ka-organized but so many nationalities are here. Sometimes they are involved for a short time. Sometimes they are part of a bigger organization but they are also in league with the West African Drug Syndicate. So halo-halo [it's a mixed bag]. The investigation is ongoing," Purisima said.

 

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Earlier reported by the InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

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Leaked: Bureau of Customs’ Boss is behind the $171 Billion Dollars Rice smuggling for already 2 years with bribing King David Tan

A general view of newly planted rice seedlings is seen at a rice field in Gloria, Oriental Mindoro in central Philippines November 28, 2013. A Goliath in rice smuggling has cornered the trade in this grain by plying officials and rank-and-file employees with cash gifts that have amounted to 6 billion pesos (US$135 billion) over the last two years.. Photo Reuters

$171b rice smuggling payoff in the Philippines unveiled

 

MANILA - A Goliath in rice smuggling has cornered the trade in this grain by plying Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials and rank-and-file employees with cash gifts that have amounted to 6 billion pesos (S$171.25 billion) over the last two years.

 

A former BOC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one of the main challenges facing the new management at the bureau was whether it would dismantle the network built by a certain "David Tan" who was designated as point man when rice-smuggling transactions were centralized two years ago.

 

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"David Tan operates behind various brokerage firms. If you want to bring in rice without paying the right taxes, you have to go through him because the BOC officials deal only with him. The BOC officials do not entertain any other rice smuggler except Tan," said the source, who described the rice smuggler as "young and with deep connections in rice exporting countries in Asia, especially Vietnam."

 

"They called these special operations or palusot because the rice shipments had no documents or import permit. After David Tan informs his connections where his shipments are arriving, the smuggling network goes into motion, from those who sign the papers to those who open the exit gates in the ports," the former official said.

 

It was not clear whether "David Tan" was the same as "Mr. T" who, according to a new BOC official who talked to the Inquirer last week, was one of three big traders whose under-the-table deals with corrupt examiners, appraisers and other frontline personnel at the bureau were the cause of the agency's failure to meet its revenue collection goals.

 

The new bureau official referred to the other two big traders as "Big Mama" and "Ma'am T."

 

Old-timers in the BOC told the Inquirer on Monday that there was no reason to go after "Big Mama," "Ma'am T" and "Mr. T" because the papers of the three traders "appeared to be in order."

 

The case is presumably the same with "David Tan."

 

The former BOC official said the scheme involved at least two top bureau officials (who get 10,000 pesos to 20,000 pesos each per container), at least one major port official (5,000 pesos to 10,000 pesos per container) and more than a dozen desk employees whose signatures (1,000 pesos per container) were needed in the release papers of the smuggled rice.

 

He estimated that Tan brought in an average of 1,000 TEU or 6-meter equivalent unit containers a week (a container can load 510 cavans of rice) or a weekly take of 37 million to 62 million pesos.

 

Kickbacks

 

In the last two years since Tan monopolized rice smuggling in the country, the former official said kickbacks had reached between 3.85 billion and 6.45 billion pesos.

 

The former official said roughly one-third of the kickbacks went to just one official who was believed to be representing an "influential" group.

 

"Tan would pay low taxes by claiming that the TEUs contained goods of lesser value than rice. Often, his group declares the rice shipments as various construction materials that are also heavy but carry lower duties," the former official said.

 

Smuggled rice is usually brought in through the two ports in Manila and the ports in Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao, the former official said.

 

He said rice and oil were the two most smuggled goods in the country because of the huge profits involved in bringing these commodities in on the sly.

 

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Who is Tan?

 

In October, Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) president and former Abono Representative Rosendo So urged the government to look into reports that a certain "David Tan" was the head of the country's biggest rice smuggling syndicate and called on BOC officials to identify him so he could be arrested.

 

"We want to know who is David Tan and why the authorities have allowed him to allegedly manipulate rice imports for his own and his group's profit," So said.

 

Nothing happened, as in President Aquino's trying to shame BOC officials and employees into leaving by singling the bureau out for corruption in his State of the Nation Address in July.

 

Former Representative Ruffy Biazon whom the president had appointed to head the bureau, reorganised the agency to put an end to corruption there, but those who were shuffled challenged their reassignment in the Court of Appeals, frustrating reforms and keeping their lucrative posts.

 

Biazon beat them in leaving the bureau by quitting in early December after being implicated in the 10-billion pesos pork barrel scam.

 

Earlier reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer and ASIAOne Network

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