PNP-CIDG tracks down remnants of Taiwanese crime group
AGENTS of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group launched a massive hunt for the remaining members of a Taiwanese organized crime gang who hid in the country where they continued their illicit activities, PNP-CIDG director Brigadier General Romeo M. Caramat Jr. said yesterday.
“The suspects were Taiwanese fugitives and undocumented aliens in the country who were all being considered as threats to national security after they entered Manila through fraudulent means,” said the official.
On Monday evening, members of the PNP-CIDG Anti-Organized Crime Unit, the Makati City Police Station and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency raided the residence of one of the suspects identified as Jiang Zhang Xiadong alias ‘Liu Ming Chung’ at the Edades Tower in Rockwell Center, Barangay Poblacion in Makati.
Armed with a search warrant for violation of Republic Act 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulations Act of 2013 issued by Makati 3rdVice Executive Judge Rico Liwanag, officers seized 84 short and long firearms of different calibers, boxes of ammunition and various magazines inside the suspect’s unit.
Brig. Gen. Caramat said they recovered during the raid were 13 automatic rifles, six foldable submachine guns, one FN P90 pistol, 12 revolvers, 53 pistols and dozens of gun accessories.
The official described Xiadong as a member of the Taiwanese gang engaged in the production of illegal narcotics, telecom fraud and other illegal activities in the Philippines.
He said that last March 1, his men, with the support of the Makati City Police Station, the Bureau of Immigration, the PDEA and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office went after three wanted Taiwanese nationals in Makati.
On the basis of a warrant of deportation and mission order issued by Bureau of Immigration, Commissioner Norman Tansingco, PNP-CIDG agents arrested Wu Jheng Long alias ‘Wu Chang Long’ and Chen Chien Ning alias ‘Chen Chieng Ning/Chang Yung-Han/Chang Yung.
The third suspect identified as Yang Zong Bao was arrested in a follow-up operation.
Brig. Gen. Caramat said that another suspect identified as Chen Chun-Yu was also found in possession of four 9mm semi-automatic pistols, one cal. 5.7 pistol and 49 rounds of assorted ammunition in another operation. All firearms confiscated were found to have defaced serial numbers.
The four were arrested in Rockwell, Makati City and on Calumpang Road in Dasmariñas Village in Makati City by members of the CIDG Anti-Organized Crime Unit and the BI Fugitive Search Unit with the assistance of the Makati City Police.
