Chinese gets 2 life terms for Parañaque drug sale

In a court decision hailed by antidrug authorities, a Chinese national arrested three years ago was sentenced to two life terms in prison by a Parañaque City judge on Tuesday.

Beni Chua Ang was also ordered by Judge Danilo Suarez of Parañaque Regional Trial Court Branch 259 to pay P10 million in fines.

Ang was arrested in an October 2012 buy-bust operation at the parking lot of Uniwide Sales Coastal Mall in Barangay Tambo, Parañaque.

He handed a kilo of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” to an undercover policeman and, when arrested, was found keeping three more kilos in his Toyota RAV4.

“This is another triumph for our men and women as well as the community. A pusher in jail saves youths (from drugs),” Senior Supt. Benjamin Lusad, head of the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Force, said in a statement.

The task force spokesperson, Chief Insp. Roque Merdegia, described Ang as a “high-value” target who worked for a well-organized drug ring run by foreigners in the country.

The convict dealt only with big-time buyers ordering in bulk or a minimum of one kilo of shabu, which could fetch up to P5 million in 2012, Merdegia added.

With the conviction, the judge ordered Ang’s transfer from detention in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.