(PNA photo by Robert Oswald Alfiler)
MANILA – Members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) have seized 84 firearms in an operation Monday night at a condominium unit in Makati City.
In a press briefing in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Tuesday, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said the arms were seized in a search warrant operation as part of the OPLAN Paglalansag Omega, a campaign against unlicensed firearms, in Barangay Poblacion at around 7 p.m. Monday.
The raid yielded 84 long and short firearms, including six sub-machine guns, and ammunition.
Abalos said the subject of the search warrant was Zhang Xiaodong, aka Lu Ming Chung, whom he described as the suspected ring leader of a Taiwan-based criminal group.
Citing intelligence reports, Abalos said the group of Zhang is also involved in the production of illegal narcotics, telecom fraud operations, and other illegal activities in the Philippines.
Abalos said the CIDG seized 13 rifles, seven submachine guns, 65 handguns, ammunition and gun accessories. However, the suspect in the search warrant eluded arrest.
“Another significant development in the continuing whole-of-government campaign against loose firearms and private armed groups operating in the country and I extend the commendation of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to the Philippine National Police under General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. for the strong manifestation of keen responsiveness to this priority action of the government to take away all instruments of crime, violence, and oppression from the hands of unauthorized individuals,” Abalos said.
He said the operation was a follow-up to an earlier police operation last March 1 launched through information provided by law enforcement counterparts from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO).
During the March 1 operation, police officers arrested in Makati City three Taiwanese nationals who are alleged members of the criminal group -- Wu Jheng Long a.k.a Wu Chang Long, Yang Zong Bao, and Chen Chun-yu -- in Makati City.
The three fugitives who are subjects of a deportation order issued by the Bureau of Immigration also yielded four pistols and a sub machinegun during the operation.
Abalos said Wu is the “right-hand man” of the group's big boss Chen Chien-Ning, who is also wanted for drug charges in Taiwan.
“Chen Chien-Ning aka Chang Yung-Han is the big boss of this organized crime group, he is a fugitive in Taiwan for the crime of kidnapping in violation of the criminal code of Taiwan, he was sentenced to a nine-year jail term, and has escaped from justice since 2006, established robust connections to local gangs in Taiwan and tries to undertake illegal activities in the Philippines,” said Abalos.
Meanwhile, Yang is the chemist of the organized crime group, who also is wanted in Taiwan for involvement in the establishment of shabu laboratories while Chen Chun-yu, the nephew of Chen Chien-Ning, is trained in handling and using firearms.
“These Taiwanese fugitives are considered undocumented aliens at illegal entrants in the Philippines, and their presence in the country is deemed as a serious security threat,” said Abalos.
He said the confiscated firearms will be subjected to ballistic tests through the PNP Integrated Ballistics Information System (IBIS).
“Aside from tracing the source of these firearms all these confiscated firearms will be subjected to ballistics test to determine the possible involvement of these guns in previous crime incidents,” said Abalos.
CIDG chief, Brig. Gen. Romeo Caramat, said they continue to track down the suspect who is still in the country.
“We are sure of that dahil condo na inupahan binayaran niya ng three months. Based on surveillance dito nagtatago nandito pa siya sa Pilipinas. Nahuli na tatlong kasama and they will be deported tomorrow na turnover na namin matagal minomonitor ng PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) kasi they are involved in drugs chemistry (We are sure of that because he paid for the rented condo for three months. Based on surveillance he is still hiding here in the Philippines. Three suspects have been caught and they will be deported tomorrow after we turned them over to the immigration bureau. PDEA has been monitoring them for a long time because they are involved in drugs chemistry),” Caramat said. (PNA)
