Shabu probe: Customs officer got 'commission' for magnetic lifter shipment

EPICENTER. Bureau of Customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban during the continuation of the Senate hearing P6.8 billion shabu shipment on September 26, 2018. File photo by Angie de Silva/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Jimmy Guban, the embattled Bureau of Customs (BOC) intelligence officer in the search for the missing P6.8-billion shabu (methamphetamine), admitted on Thursday, September 27, that he accepted money to get SMYD Trading as a consignee-for-hire.

SMYD Trading was later used as the consignee to receive the shipment containing 4 magnetic lifters, which were allegedly used to be packed with the missing one ton of shabu. (TIMELINE: The search for P6.8-B shabu 'smuggled' into PH)

How did he admit? Under oath and before congressmen from the House of Representatives committee on dangerous drugs and committee on good government, Guban said he accepted P10,000-15,000 from dismissed policeman Eduardo Acierto for getting SMYD Trading to accept the shipment.

He said Acierto – then a police Senior Superintendent – this year asked him to look for a consignee and he obliged.

Guban claimed Acierto said it was for an "intelligence operation."

Guban's trust to Acierto Guban and Acierto go way back. They worked together in anti-drug operations when Acierto was still an active anti-drug cop with the Philippine National Police.

Acierto was a no-show in the shabu probe on Wednesday, despite the invitation of the committees.

Regular at Customs? Guban asserted that it was only "normal" for Customs employees to look for a consignee for people outside the bureau. As pointed out by congressmen in the hearing, it was "unusual", even prohibited.

The money he accepted, Guban said, was just "commission" for his "personal" expenditure. He said he was just telling the "truth" when lawmakers questioned his action. – Rappler.com