MARIVELES, Bataan — A foreign ship officer finally broke his silence and pointed to two foreigners and a Filipino as the ones responsible in unloading the 15 wooden crates of smuggled assault rifles, it was learned Friday.

George Shavishvili, a Georgian and 3rd officer of the M/V Captain Ufuk, identified the two foreigners and the Filipino, whose names were withheld, in his affidavit submitted to Senior State Prosecutor Pamela Lazatin-Escobar of the Department of Justice.

Shavishvili said he saw the two foreigners and the Filipino helping one another in loading several long black bags containing the firearms from the vessel to the Rib boat and then sped away.

As this developed, authorities are now hunting down the head syndicate in the gun smuggling, reportedly a South African who is influential in the country. Authorities learned that the South African is the real smuggler of the assault guns.

The syndicate head, said a police source, reportedly owns a multi-million resort house in Punta Fuego in Batangas. “Nakawangwang pa at may escort pa na big bike patrol na pulis kapag lumalabas etong utak ng sindikato na ito,” said the police source.

A powerful group is also reportedly lobbying for the dropping of the case against the suspects.

Police are also hunting down the two foreigners tagged by Shavishvili as suspects after they went into hiding following the confiscation of the guns and the seizure of the M/V Ufuk and five other boats used in the gun smuggling.