"Shabu 11" prosecution witness presents video on warehouses

The seventh prosecution witness in the so-called "Shabu 11" case yesterday presented a video of the surveillance of the four warehouses that were allegedly used in the manufacture of shabu.

Surveillance team leader Chief Insp. Madzgani Muksan Mukaram presented in court the one-and-a-half hour raw video on their surveillance operation that led to the raid of a shabu laboratory in barangay Umapad, Mandaue City in 2004.

As the video was being presented Senior State Prosecutor Achimedes Manabat posed some questions to Mukaram. The video showed the warehouses on #20 Lopez Jaena Street in Cebu City, and in barangays of Pakna-an, Looc and Umapad in Manduae City. Also shown in the video was accused Joseph Lopez, who was later identified as the one who entered the warehouse along Lopez Jaena Street on several occasions. The video also showed equipment such as hydrogenerator, scrubber, freezers, containers of acetone, and others used in the manufacture of shabu.

As the video was being presented, the 12 accused including alleged financier Calvin de Jesus Tan watched intently and talked from time to time. Some of them just shook their heads and smile.

The seven defense lawyers are set to cross-examine Mukaram today as the last prosecution witness, Senior Supt. Lina Sarmiento, will also testify.

Oscar Maturan, the legal counsel for accused Wu Tiao Yi and Lin Li Ku, has withdrawn his services for the two, citing no reason. Regional Trial Court Branch 28 presiding judge Marilyn Yap appointed Eric Carin as counsel de officio during the hearing yesterday and today.

On September 28, 2004, 11 people mostly foreigners were arrested in the raid on the shabu laboratory, which was said to be the biggest in Southeast Asia, in Mandaue City.

Seized during the raid were 675 kilos of shabu worth P1.5 billion, and chemicals enough to produce about 15 tons more of the prohibited drug. - Mitchelle P. Calipayan