Ex-Bangsamoro lawmaker tagged as mastermind in foiled drug haul – PDEA

MANILA, Philippines – The individual previously identified as the financial backer of an intercepted P3.5-billion shipment of shabu (methamphetamine) from Laos is now considered the “mastermind” behind the smuggling attempt, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Isagani Nerez said on Thursday.

Nerez said Sultan Edrieza Hadji Nasser Rimbang “appears not as a mere financier, but as the person who conceptualized” the half-ton shabu shipment bound for the Philippines that was intercepted in Laos.

READ: Remulla flags Laos drug financier’s absence from Duterte-era watchlist

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“He was the one who made those plans, made suggestions to his conduits, his cohorts; and yes, he provided the needed financial requirements for the chartering of that flight,” Nerez told lawmakers at a congressional hearing.

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Rimbang, a former Bangsamoro parliament lawmaker, was described by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla as the alleged “financier of the entire operation” that saw Laotian authorities seizing a Philippines-bound private jet loaded with 23 pieces of luggage packed with 521 kilograms of shabu.

The PDEA is coordinating with other agencies to map out Rimbang’s contacts who facilitated the logistics behind the drug smuggling attempt, Nerez said.

“We suspect and… honestly believe that Rimbang is connected with the international syndicate because of the fact that the items are coming from another country,” said Nerez. “Of course, members of the international syndicate could do that.” /jpv