Former Bureau of Customs (BOC) intelligence officer Jimmy Guban on Tuesday revealed that a former policeman asked him for help in the entry of two separate shipments of shabu concealed in magnetic lifters.
In a hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Guban said that former Senior Supt. Eduardo Acierto asked him for help in smuggling a shipment of shabu worth ₱2.4-billion contained in two magnetic lifters at the Manila International Container Port.
Guban was also linked to the smuggling of four magnetic lifters believed to have contained up to ₱11 billion worth of shabu found in a warehouse in Cavite last August.
The former intelligence officer earlier admitted being paid ₱10,000 to find a consignee that could be hired for the shipment on Acierto’s orders.
Both shipments were bound for Cavite and intercepted by authorities just days from each other. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has been trying to find a link between them.
Guban said Acierto asked him to check if the consignee of the ₱2.4-billion shipment, Vecaba Trading, was accredited by the BOC.
“Upon informing Col. Acierto that Vecaba Trading was not an accredited importer and he understood that it could not be allowed to process an importation of goods, he requested me to help him release the goods covered by the bill of landing where Vacaba Trading was the named importer/consignee,” he said, reading from his sworn statement.
Guban said he told Acierto he could only help if the contents of the shipment would be properly declared.
“Upon telling him this, he confided to me that the goods… are actually illegal drugs, particularly shabu,” he testified.
At this point, Guban stressed that he refused to help Acierto.
“I immediately responded that it was not possible to do and I declared to Col. Acierto that we from the Bureau of Customs would cause the apprehension of these drugs,” he stressed.
“Upon seeing my sincere will and intention to have these drugs apprehended, Col. Acierto committed to me that he would help in its apprehension by providing details of the shipment,” he continued.
Guban said Acierto later gave “staggered or piecemeal detail or information as a tip or tips until we were able to locate the illegal drugs inside the MICP (Manila International Container Port).”
The former BOC official noted that the magnetic lifters looked “exactly like the ones I helped him provide a consignee for.”
