The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) have announced today that they are hunting down alleged drug lord Peter Lim and have also formed tracker teams to catch him.
In a press briefing today, PNP Spokesperson Senior Superintendent Bong Durana said: “[W]e appeal to the public, if ever you have information that would lead to the whereabouts of Peter Lim, we would be happy to look into it.”
According to ABS-CBN News, the Makati Regional Trial Court ordered the arrest of Lim, Kerwin Espinosa, Marcelo Adorco, and Ruel Malindangan on Aug. 14.
The court upheld the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) resolution which found probable cause against the suspects for alleged conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading.
Only Lim and Malindangan are at large. Espinosa is already under the custody of the DOJ while Adorco is with the PNP, as reported by ABS-CBN.
The trial against all suspects will start on Aug. 28, reported CNN Philippines.
The Philippine Star reported that Lim has not left the country. Said DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra: “Per BI [Bureau of Immigration] records, he left for a short trip abroad last March but returned after a few days. So Peter Go Lim is supposed to be in the country.”
A Cebu-based businessman, Lim has been tagged by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte as a big-time drug lord with the alias “Jaguar.” CNN Philippines reported that the president said Lim was part of a Chinese triad, which the businessman denied.
According to ABS-CBN, he is allegedly the source of shabu (methamphetamine) which were distributed in the country’s Regions 7 and 8 in the years 2013 and 2014. Espinosa, who has confessed to being a drug dealer, also said that Lim was his supplier of narcotics.
In March this year, the DOJ exonerated Lim and his co-accused of drug charges, a move widely condemned by the public. According to The Philippine Daily Inquirer, the DOJ dismissed the charges after it found the evidence presented by the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group insufficient.
By June, the DOJ ordered a reinvestigation of Lim’s case, according to The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Lim slammed the decision, calling it “persecution, harassment, and oppression.”
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