No recent travel records for fugitive Peter Lim; no guarantee he is still in the Philippines
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 1:52 p.m.) — If suspected drug trader Peter Lim has left the country, there is no record of it, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Monday.
Lim last left the country in 2017, according to immigration records, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in response to Interior Secretary Eduardo Año’s statement that the Cebu-based businessman may have left the Philippines.
"Per BI records, there is no record of departure of Peter Go Lim," he told reporters on Monday morning.
Guevarra said that Lim’s last foreign travel was in 2017, according to bureau information. Lim's Philippine passport had also expired in 2019, he added.
'We cannot really be sure'
The justice chief however acknowledged that the Cebu-based businessman, who has pending arrest warrants due to drug charges, may still have left the country through other ways.
“We cannot really be sure (that Lim is still in the country). Our country has a very extensive coastline. There are known backdoors in our Southern borders,” Guevarra added.
Año in an interview last week said authorities have been looking for Lim but he may have already left the country.
Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval said the bureau is verifying Año’s statement. “We… will coordinating with DILG to confirm details about this matter,” she added.
Guevarra said they will now move to place Lim on the Interpol’s red notice.
“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,” the DOJ chief added.
Lim faces two counts of violations of Section 26 (B) in relation to Section 5, Article II of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 pending before a Makati court. He is allegedly one of the suppliers of Kerwin Espinosa, a drug convict who has admitted to being a drug trafficker.
Acting Presiding Judge Gina Bibat-Palamos of Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 65 issued the arrest order against Lim in August 2018.
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