Bombshell claims link Philippines’ Duterte clan to massive meth smuggling scheme
- A convicted trafficker’s explosive testimony has implicated the former first family in the very narcotics trade they vowed to eradicate
Guban, a former customs intelligence officer with 17 years of experience, told lawmakers that Congressman Paolo Duterte; lawyer Manases Carpio, husband of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio; and Chinese businessman and economic adviser Michael Yang owned the massive magnetic lifters used to secretly transport hundreds of kilograms of crystal meth, or “shabu”, into the country in 2018.
In 2018, Guban had named a different suspect, police officer Eduardo Acierto, before the Senate. But now, appearing before a newly formed congressional “super committee”, he claimed he had received death threats and was pressured to falsely implicate Acierto, describing himself as the victim of a “grand conspiracy to clean the name of the First Family [the Dutertes] and Michael Yang”.