- Title: Four Hong Kong nationals facing drug charges attend bail hearing
- Date: 18th November 2016
- Summary: ZAMBALES PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES (NOVEMBER 18, 2016) (REUTERS) HONG KONG NATIONALS WEARING DETAINEE UNIFORM ENTERING COURTROOM VARIOUS OF BAIL HEARING IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF HONG KONG NATIONALS LISTENING VARIOUS OF JUDGE PRESIDING HEARING IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF LAWYERS AND HONG KONG NATIONALS' TRANSLATOR SPEAKING TO EACH OTHER (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino/English) DEFENSE LAWYER, SETH INFANTE, SAYING: "What we know is that our clients are just ordinary fishermen who were paid to get the boat. Like I said, we can prove that they are legitimate fishermen back in Hong Kong." HONG KONG NATIONALS LOOKING ON HONG KONG NATIONALS HANDCUFFED TO EACH OTHER ARMS LOCKED IN HAND CUFFS JAIL GUARDS SITTING BEHIND HONG KONG NATIONALS HONG KONG NATIONAL'S BACK VARIOUS OF JAIL GUARDS ESCORTING HONG KONG NATIONALS OUT OF COURTROOM
- Embargoed: 3rd December 2016 08:31
- Keywords: drugs Philippines Hong Kong narcotics Chan Kwok Tung Kwok Jin Hua Eung Shu Fook Lo Wing Fai Duterte crackdown drug war war on drugs meth
- Location: ZAMBALES PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES
- City: ZAMBALES PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES
- Country: Philippines
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA00158Z085H
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Four Hong Kong nationals charged with the illegal manufacturing and possession of narcotics attended a bail hearing in the northern Philippines on Friday (November 18).
Suspects Chan Kwok Tung, Kwok Jin Hua, Eung Shu Fook and Lo Wing Fai were arrested in July aboard a vessel believed to be a floating laboratory for the drug methamphetamine, locally known as shabu, off the coast of Subic.
Defense lawyer Seth Infante said the bail hearing cross-examined the police officer who arrested the Hong Kong nationals but failed to finish in time. It will resume again next Friday (November 25).
He also said he was confident the court would judge his clients as innocent.
"We can prove that they are legitimate fishermen back in Hong Kong," Infante said, after stressing that his clients were "ordinary fisherman" who had been paid to retrieve the boat.
More than 20,000 suspected addicts and pushers have been arrested since July under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody crackdown on drugs.
Around 2,600 have been killed in police operations and alleged vigilante killings as international criticism of Duterte's drug war mounts. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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