Filipino seaman who was freed after being jailed for 14 years for gold smuggling in Bangladesh is expected to arrive Saturday in Manila.
In a statement of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Wilfredo Rosales was freed from Dhaka Central Prison nine days after Philippine Ambassador to Dhaka Zenaida Tacorda-Rabago asked Bangladesh President lajuddin Ahmed to intervene into the seaman’s case.
Dhaka jail officers turned over Rosales to the Philippine embassy for repatriation to the Philippines. He will be escorted to Manila by Consul Alfredo Borlongan.
Upon her assumption as ambassador of the Philippines to Bangladesh last March 9, Rabago appealed for President Ahmed for the release of Rosales. She also followed up the case with Bangladesh Foreign Ministry officials.
Rosales was nabbed in 1993 in the Bangladesh southern port city of Chittagong. A local court convicted him four years after.
After appeal proceedings, Bangladesh High Court affirmed the 14-year-jail term verdict handed down by the lower court.
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