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CA affirms extradition of Australian cocaine smuggler

By Benjamin Pulta

August 14, 2020, 4:01 pm

MANILA – The Court of Appeals (CA) turned down the petition of an Australian fugitive to prevent his extradition back to his country.

In its five-page resolution dated July 24 released on Friday, the appellate court's First Division through Acting Presiding Justice Remedios A. Salazar-Fernando denied for lack of merit the petition filed by the lawyers of Markis Scott Turner and upheld its earlier ruling on the case released on February 21.

Associate Justices Ramon A. Cruz and Perpetua Susana T. Atal-Paño concurred in the ruling on the suit where Turner questioned the Philippine and Australian government's extradition proceedings against him before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 37.

Turner was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Sept. 28,2017 after he fled Australia to Samal Island where he hid under the fictitious name Filip Novak.

Australian prosecutors described Turner as being in the "pinnacle" of drug trade in their country before he jumped bail in 2015 for drug charges.

Turner was arrested in 2011 after his company was found to have conspired with Colombians to smuggle in more than 70 kilograms of cocaine worth USD20 million into Australia in barrels of hydraulic oil which was discovered by the Australian Federal Police.

Last year, Turner's 64-year-old mother, Elizabeth Anne, was charged by Australian authorities with "attempting to pervert the course of justice" for purchasing a yacht which investigators suspect was used by her son to escape to the Philippines.

Turner's mother, at the time, claimed that her son had died.

"Finally, petitioner once again attempts to drive the discussion towards a human rights discourse. This Court shall not fall for this bait and try the substantial issues that are clearly within the jurisdiction of the requesting state," the CA said in its ruling. (PNA)

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