3 Chinese suspects in San Juan drug bust given until Friday to respond to charges 

The three Chinese nationals arrested following a multi-billion peso drug bust in San Juan City on December 23 failed to respond on Tuesday to the criminal charges filed against them before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Speaking through an interpreter, suspects Shi Gui Xiong alias Xiong, Che Wen De alias Jacky Tan and Wu Li Yong alias David Go told investigating prosecutors during the preliminary investigation that they would seek the assistance of a private lawyer to prepare their counter-affidavits. 

Assistant State Prosecutors Mary Jane Sytat and Ethel Rhea Suril, in turn, decided to give them until Friday to submit their defense. 

Their co-respondents – Filipinos Abdullah Mahmod Jahmal, Salim Cocodao Arafat, and Basher Tawaki Jamal – denied the charges for manufacture, trading, delivery, distribution, possession, and transportation of dangerous drugs under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. 

The charges are in relation to the drug bust conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Mangga Street, Barangay Little Baguio and Bonifacio Street in San Juan. 

In his defense, Salim claimed he was a minor.

Salim submitted a copy of his birth certificate and urged the DOJ prosecutors to allow him to undergo dental examination to prove that he is only 16 years old.

He also requested to be transferred to transfered to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). 

Under Republic Act 9344 (Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act), a minor drug violator who is over 15 years old may get suspension of sentence once found guilty by the court. — RSJ, GMA News