(UPDATED) INTERIOR Secretary Jonvic Remulla on Tuesday said there was no evidence linking the P3.5-billion Laos drug shipment to the Duterte family but questioned why the Mindanao politician identified as the alleged financier of the plane chartered to transport the cargo was never included in the Duterte administration’s “narco-list.”
Last week, Remulla identified ex-parliamentarian Edriezan Hadji Nasser Rimbang as the primary financier of the shabu shipment while 10 others were alleged to be accomplices, after the shipment on a chartered 986 Learjet 55B was stopped at Luang Prabang International Airport in Laos.
Remulla said Rimbang and Duterte were in the same party. “They’re more than friends,” he said.
“What puzzles me is why Rimbang wasn't included on the watchlist during the drug war, if he was already a known drug personality even back then,” he said in Filipino.
Last week, Remulla released a link chart illustrating the web of personalities allegedly involved in the attempted smuggling of the 521 kilos of shabu (crystal meth) worth over P3.5 billion into the Philippines.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency earlier reported that the Mindanao politician paid over $49,500 or P3.122 million for the aircraft.
Why not in narco-list?
Rimbang was seen in photos with former president Rodrigo Duterte doing the famous raised fist gesture. A native of Marawi City, he ran as representative for the third district of Lanao del Sur during the last Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections under the former president’s PDP Laban party but lost.
The released diagram showed personalities and their specific assignments to secure the shipment from sourcing to delivery. Remulla said such operations simply cannot be carried out by a small group.
The DILG chief said Rimbang was “one of [the] many heads of the drug syndicate but he is the lead in his organization.” The former president repeatedly hogged headlines during his term by releasing what he called a narco list, a list of public officials, judges, police, and military personnel alleged to be involved in the illegal drug trade.
“I wonder why someone like Jed Mabilog, who is currently our undersecretary and has absolutely no involvement in drugs, was put on a watchlist and threatened with death, while Rimbang, who is a known criminal, was not included in their watchlist and was able to conduct business freely during that time,” Remulla said. “The other was innocent, while the other was obviously guilty.” Remulla said this scenario is the “ill-effect” of the drug war that never went through due process.
Shortly after news of the drug haul came out, Capt. Rioklyn Toledo, the pilot of the chartered plane, denied any involvement in the operation and said he had already faced investigators to help clear his name.
Remulla alleged that Toledo was tasked with procuring an aircraft in Malaysia to transport the illegal drugs to Manila.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) has subpoenaed more than 21 persons linked to the case.
Toledo said he appeared before the CIDG and the PDEA to provide information and answer questions about the case on Friday, Oct. 16.
“I have done so in good faith, with the hope of helping the authorities establish the facts and clear my name,” he said.
Rimbang, meanwhile, could have sneaked out of the Philippines through the country’s backdoor exits in Mindanao, Remulla said.
