Businessman Richard Tan a.k.a. Chen Ju Long asks court to dismiss raps over P6.4-B shabu shipment

Businessman Chen Ju Long, also known as Richard Tan, has asked the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court to junk the case filed by the Department of Justice against him in connection with the seized P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China.

Chen is the chairman of Hong Fei Logistics Inc., whose warehouse in Valenzuela City was found to have kept the 602.2 kilograms of shabu that were seized Bureau of Customs and National Bureau of Investigation operatives on May 26. 

In his motion, Chen said the Valenzuela City RTC Branch 171 lacked jurisdiction over the case for importation of dangerous drugs since the crime was supposedly committed in Manila where the shipment slipped past port inspections.

He said under the law “the place where the crime was committed determines not only venue of the action but is an essential element of jurisdiction.”

“Verily, considering that the alleged importation of dangerous drugs charged in the assailed information began and was terminated in the Port of Manila, jurisdiction cannot be acquired by this Honorable Court,” the motion stated.

“In light of the foregoing circumstances,  the accused respectfully moves for this Honorable Court to quash the assailed information for lack of jurisdiction,” it added.

Chen also asked the court to defer the issuance of arrest warrant or recall any warrant for his arrest if one has already been issued.

Tan had tried to leave the country for Shanghai, China only to be intercepted by Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel at the Clark International Airport on Thursday.

The BI said Chen, who is on its lookout list, must secure clearance from the DOJ before he can travel outside the country.

Apart from Chen, also charged over the shabu shipment were eight other individuals including alleged customs fixer Mark Ruben Taguba II, and businessman Kenneth Dong after a three-person panel of prosecutors found probable cause against them.

“In finding probable cause against the above-named respondents for the importation of 602 kilograms of shabu, the panel determined that the combination of the individual participation of each of the respondents, either as shipper, consolidator, facilitator, broker, financier, consignee, or warehouse lessee—reveals a pattern of over acts indicative of conspiracy to import into the country the dangerous drugs,” the DOJ said in a statement last week.

The panel recommended no bail for each of the accused. — RSJ, GMA News