Court denies bail plea of 4 HK residents linked to ‘floating shabu lab’

An Olongapo City court has denied the bail plea of four Hong Kong residents facing criminal charges after illegal drugs were seized from a "floating shabu laboratory" off Subic, Zambales in July 2016.

Judge Raymond Viray of the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 75 on December 22, 2017 dismissed the motion of accused Win Fai Lo, Shu Fook Leung, Kam Wah Kwok and Kwok Tung Chan for lack of merit, adding the evidence of the prosecution is not weak.

"While the evidence is still preliminary, there is no clear showing that the prosecution's case is weak as to entitle the accused to bail. The trial is still going on; and it is not amiss to point that even this disposition on bail is a mere preliminary appraisal of the prosecution's evidence," the order stated.

"In fact, the court's appreciation of the facts may even change later on as trial progresses; but for now and based on the evidence thus far presented, the court is not satisfied that the State's evidence is weak to warrant the grant of bail to the accused," it added.

Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, who is handling the case, welcomed the court's order.

"We welcome this development especially because this case was filed just one and a half years ago. The court acted properly and speedily based on nothing but the clear facts and evidence," he said.

A joint team from the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Coast Guard, the Bureau of Immigration, the Bureau of Customs and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency apprehended the suspects' fishing vessel on July 11, 2016 in the municipal waters of Barangay Calapandayan, Subic, Zambales.

When approached by authorities, the four presented passports that showed they were Hong Kong residents who entered the Philippines on July 4, 2016. During a search of the vessel, a police dog detected a resealable transparent plastic bag containing a crystalline substance believed to be shabu in a blue back pack.

Leung admitted owning the bag, authorities said.

Also discovered inside the vessel was a hydrogenerator machine used in manufacturing dangerous drugs and which the Department of Justice considered a prima facie ("on its face") finding that manufacturing was actually done by the four men inside the boat.

A laboratory exam conducted by the PDEA on the seized items showed the presence of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.

The DOJ said since the four were on the boat when the illegal drug substance and paraphernalia were found, they are considered to have "control and shared dominion over the boat and therefore had constructive custody over the back pack and its contents." — BM, GMA News