PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has welcomed the arrest of Kenneth Dong, the alleged middleman in the P6.4-billion shabu shipment that slipped past the Bureau of Customs in May 2017, Malacañang said on Thursday, February 7.
"The President always welcomes any arrest involving any person alleged to be involved in drug trafficking or any crime, regardless of whoever he or she is," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo told a press conference.
"Again, I will repeat, this President is no respecter of friendship, alliances and relationship. Everyone to him is accountable before the law," he added.
Dong, whose real name is Dong Yi Shen, was arrested Monday, February 4, more than a year since he went into hiding.
Dong was nabbed by the National Bureau of Investigation's anti-organized and transnational crime division in Karangalan village in Muntinlupa City.
He was arrested by virtue of the arrest warrant issued against him for allegedly violating Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act for importing dangerous drugs.
Apart from Dong, also covered by the arrest order issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 were customs broker Mark Taguba, Li Guang Feng alias Manny Li, Eirene Mae Tatad, Teejan Marcellana, Chen I-Min, Jhu Ming Jyun, and Chen Rong Juan.
Dong was identified by Taguba as the middleman of the firm that transported one of the country's biggest smuggled drugs shipments to a warehouse in Valenzuela City.
To recall, it was also Taguba who implicated Duterte's son and son-in-law, former Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte and lawyer Manases Carpio, in the smuggling activities. Taguba, however, later backtracked and said his testimony was based merely on "hearsay."
Taguba surrendered to the authorities following the issuance of an arrest order against him. (VoxPop Philippines)
