AGENTS of the National Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested the consignee of the P6.4-billion shabu shipment that was smuggled through the Manila port in May last year.
NBI public information chief Nicanor Suarez said Eirene Mae Tatad, owner of EMT Trading, was arrested in Iloilo City on the strength of a warrant issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46, which is hearing the drug importation case filed by the Department of Justice.
Meanwhile, a Manila court on Friday ordered authorities to bring Customs fixer Mark Ruben Taguba II to the Manila City Jail after it denied his bid to remain under NBI custody.
Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 said Taguba’s motion lacked merit because the NBI had no mandate to oversee detainees undergoing trial for a criminal case.
That mandate, Montesa said, belonged to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, which supervises city and provincial jails.
NBI Task Force Against Illegal Drugs chief Ross Jonathan Galicia said Tatad’s brother-in-law convinced her to turn herself in to government agents.
He said Tatad’s brother-in-law also accompanied the NBI in fetching her in Iloilo, where she was on vacation.
“We called her up and asked her if she was willing to give up,” Galicia said.
Tatad denied that she went on hiding, saying she only learned about the arrest warrant against her on Thursday.
She said she went to Iloilo to relieve herself of stress following the dismissal of the case at the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court Branch 171 for lack of jurisdiction.
The case was refiled with the Manila court last week.
Tatad’s camp also maintained that she was innocent of the allegations, and that she had only been used as a dummy by Customs fixer and co-accused Taguba.
Earlier, the Justice Department said Tatad had admitted she had a “consignee-for-hire” arrangement with Taguba, but she denied it.
Tatad will be brought to court, which will decide where she will be detained.
Suarez said Tatad will be presented to reporters at the NBI headquarters in Manila within the day.