Ex-NBI exec facing drug raps transferred to Makati jail

MANILA, Philippines — A Makati City court has ordered the transfer of detention of a former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) official tagged in the so-called “mega shabu laboratory” busted by authorities in Virac, Catanduanes in November 2016.

Under an order released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday, lawyer Augusto Eric Isidoro, former chief of the NBI anti-illegal drugs unit, will be moved from the Virac district jail to Makati City jail.

The order was signed by  Presiding Judge Selma Palacio Alaras of the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 63.

Isidoro surrendered to authorities earlier this year.

Last June, the Supreme Court approved the transfer of the three drug cases filed against Isidoro and nine others from the provincial court to the Makati RTC.

The high court found merit in the reasons cited by the DOJ in its request last March.

The DOJ sought the transfer of venue of the cases due to  the alleged partiality of the Virac judge and “political connections of the defendant.”

The raid on the shabu laboratory in Virac yielded around 22.509 kilos of shabu and more than 359 kilos of ephedrine.