Aguirre: Kenneth Dong possible state witness in P6.4-B shabu smuggling case

Businessman Kenneth Dong can turn state witness in the case involving the P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China that skipped customs inspection in May, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said.

"Possible as long as he (Dong) would not appear to be the most guilty," Aguirre told reporters on Tuesday evening.

Dong is one of the nine individuals charged by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Monday with the importation of dangerous drugs in connection with the 602.2 kilograms of shabu that were seized by NBI and BOC operatives from a warehouse in Valenzuela City on May 26.

A separate complaint for violation of Section 28 of Republic Act 9280 or the Customs Brokers Act of 2004 was also filed against Dong, businessman Manny Li (Li Guang Feng) and Mark Ruben Taguba II for the unauthorized practice of customs broking.

Aguirre said he will form a panel of prosecutors that will conduct the preliminary investigation on the complaints to determine whether there is basis to press charges in court.

Dong allegedly acted as middleman for Chen Ju Long alias Richard Chen or Richard Tan, the Chinese businessman who owns the Hongfei Logistics warehouse where the contraband was found.

According to the NBI Anti-Organized and Transnational Crime Division, Dong helped his friend Li find a broker that will facilitate the processing of the shipment of Li's client, Chen.

That broker turned out to be Taguba, who asked for a fee of P190,000 to cover expenses for the consignee, payment of taxes and duties, and delivery of the shipment to Hongfei.

"Dong, in turn, would charge P5,000 to P10,000 on top of the P190,000 as his 'consultancy fee,'" the complaint stated.

Dong allegedly translated to English the cargo’s packing list forwarded to him by Li, which was written in Chinese.

After translating the list to English, Dong sent the list, which contains the item specification, quantity, container's total weight and its corresponding container number, to Taguba.

Dong, a businessman engaged in the sale of industrial weighing scales, had already denied any involvement in the illegal drug trade.

He is currently detained at the NBI headquarters in Manila on rape charges. —ALG/KVD, GMA News