CEBU CITY -- A local court found Thursday 11 people, including nine Chinese nationals, guilty of operating a drug laboratory in Mandaue City in 2004 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
In a decision promulgated Thursday, Mandaue City Regional Trial Court Judge Marilyn Lagura-Yap of Branch 28 convicted Chinese nationals Calvin Tan; Siew Kin Weng, 25; Liew Kam Song, 40; Joseph Yu, 41; Lin Li Ku, 35; Bao Xiafu, 35; Wu Tiao Yi, 33; Tao Fei, 34; and Liu Bo, 31; and Filipinos Allan Yap Garcia, 33, and Joseph Lopez, 33, for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002
Tan is said to be the financier of the shabu laboratory.
Yap also fined the 11 convicts, who are now detained at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, P10 million each for manufacturing illegal drugs.
Manila-based anti-narcotics agents seized more than P1 billion worth of shabu during a raid on a warehouse in Mandaue City on September 24, 2004.
During the raid, 11 persons, including nine Chinese nationals, were arrested. Tan was arrested in Hong Kong and extradited to the Philippines two months after the raid.
Among the nine Chinese nationals arrested was Hung Ching Chang, 40, but Yap exempted him from the charge after he agreed to become a state witness.
Hung Ching Chang said he was Tan's errand boy.
The defense lawyers said they will appeal the court decision. (Sunnex)
