CEBU-based businessman and alleged drug lord Peter Go Lim has not left the country based on records of the Bureau of Immigration, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said yesterday.
“As per Bureau of Immigration records, there is no record of departure by Peter Go Lim. His last recorded foreign travel was in 2017,” Guevarra said in a text message to reporters.
Immigration spokesperson Danna Krizia Sandoval said: “We note that Peter Lim has numerous namesakes, with at least one having left the country recently. However, upon thorough verification with our system, as well as document matching, Mr. Peter Go Lim, the subject of (the) news article, has no recent departure record as of date.”
But Guevarra admitted that Lim could have used the country’s porous southern borders to leave the country.
“We cannot really be sure. Our country has a very extensive coastline. There are known backdoors in our southern borders,” Guevarra said, adding Lim’s passport expired in 2019.
Guevarra made the statement in response to the recent revelation of Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano that Lim has left the country based on information they have received.
In a radio interview last Saturday, Ano said Lim, allegedly one of the suppliers of another drug lord, Kerwin Espinosa, has left the country.
In the same interview, Ano claimed that former Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, another suspected drug lord, has also left the country.
PNP chief Guillermo Eleazar said he has tapped his men to check reports that Lim could have sneaked out of the country.
Eleazar said he specifically instructed the Directorate for Intelligence, the PNP Drug Enforcement Group, and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group to validate the statement made by Interior Secretary Edurdo Ano that Lim could have left the country.
“We still don’t have exact information to validate this (report). But I believe, if ever we can validate this, we can make the necessary coordination (with authorities) where ever he may be,” Eleazar said.
Guevarra said the DOJ may seek the assistance of the Interpol in locating Lim. He added that with or without the Interpol’s help, local authorities will intensify their efforts to locate the alleged drug lord.
“Aside from intensifying efforts on the part of our intelligence and law enforcement agents to track down Peter Go Lim, we may also request the Interpol to assist if there are indeed indications that this fugitive has slipped out of our country,” Guevarra said, adding this may include asking the Interpol to place Lim in its red notice.
“I think it is about time for that,” Guevarra added.
The Interpol’s website said a red notice is a request to law enforcement authorities worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action. It is published by Interpol at the request of a member-country.
The DOJ has indicted Lim, along with Espinosa, Marcelo Adorco and Ruel Malindangan for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading.
The case stemmed from a complaint filed by the PNO-CIDG where it identified Lim as the alleged source of the shabu sold by Espinosá’s group in Regions 7 and 8 in 2013 and 2014.
In February 2020, Lim and Espinosa were also indicted in connection with their alleged involvement in the “large-scale” shabu trade in Cebu City.
The case was filed by the National Bureau of Investigation before the DOJ.
Lim, who was earlier identified by President Duterte as a big-time drug lord, is also the subject of a warrant issued by a Makati court in another drug-related case. — With Raymond Africa
