NBI to probe Cebu's Peter Lim over suspected drug trade links

CEBU CITY, Philippines (Philippines News Agency) – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will investigate Cebu-based businessman Peter Lim whom President Rodrigo Duterte named as part of the Chinese Triad who operates the drug industry in the country.

NBI Director Dante Gierran, who was in Cebu City to grace the turnover ceremony of the top NBI-7 post, said he was tasked by the president to look into Lim.

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He said the NBI will also create a task group that will focus on the eradication of illegal drugs in support of Duterte’s war on drugs.

“The scope of this task group is the whole Philippines. Every region in the country will have NBI agents whose focus will only be on drugs,” Gierran said.

“We will consider the fight against drugs and corruption in the government as top priority,” he said.

Lim, meanwhile, denied his links to the illegal drug trade in a meeting with the president on Friday at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency office in Davao City.

Lim met with Duterte to clear his name from his alleged drug ties. However, Duterte advised him to submit to an investigation by the NBI to erase any doubts.

Gierran urged other law enforcement agencies to coordinate in dismantling the illegal drugs industry in the country.