No BI records of drug king Lim leaving PH: DOJ

MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday said there are no immigration records of fugitive illegal drugs kingpin, Peter Go Lim, fleeing the country.

Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Lim’s Philippine passport expired in 2019 and that “per BI (Bureau of Immigration) records, there is no record of departure by Peter Go Lim”.

His last recorded foreign travel was in 2017, Guevarra said.

Lim’s last known address was Cebu and he has gone missing since a Makati court issued a warrant for his arrest in August 2018.

“We cannot really be sure (if he left). Our country has a very extensive coastline. There are known backdoors in our southern borders,” Guevarra told the media following reports that Lim may have already left the Philippines.

Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año himself said in a recent radio interview that Lim may already be out of the country.

In 2018, the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 65 issued an arrest warrant against Lim as well as a hold departure order.

The DOJ filed two counts of the non-bailable offense of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trade in violation of Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, against Lim.

Named as Lim’s co-accused were self-confessed drug lord Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa who is allegedly one of Lim’s patrons, Espinosa associate Marcelo Adorco, and Ruel Malindangan.

Espinosa and Adorco are under custody while Malindangan, who also has a standing arrest warrant, is likewise at-large.

State prosecutors had filed drug raps against Espinosa, Adorco, and Malindagan, arrested alleged drug supplier Lovely Impal, and convicted drug lord Peter Co after the DOJ found probable cause to indict them based on the complaint of the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

The DOJ said similar charges have been filed against them before a Manila court.