DOJ starts manhunt vs alleged Cebu drug lord Peter Lim

JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said operatives are now searching for alleged Cebu-based drug lord Peter Lim after he was tagged by Eastern Visayas drug operator Kerwin Espinosa in the drug trading in the country.

In a chance interview in the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday, Aguirre said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is now looking for Lim, the Chinese businessman President Rodrigo Duterte earlier identified of being a big time drug operator in Visayas.

“Hinahanap na si Peter Lim for additional case build up,” Aguirre said.

The NBI, leading the probe on the alleged involvement of Lim in the drug trade, in a separate interview said they were able to establish that the Peter Lim who appeared before the President and the NBI is the same Peter Lim alleged of being the drug lord of Cebu.

NBI spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin said the NBI team of investigators led by its Anti-illegal Drugs Task Force chief Atty. Juan Roel Bolivar is now on the second part of the investigation against Lim.

“Second part of the investigation as to whether or not Peter Lim is indeed a drug lord, that is ongoing,” Lavin said.

Espinosa, in the Senate hearing on the killing of his father Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa last November 23, said Lim and another drug lord “Jaguar” are the ones who supplied him shabu.

The President earlier identified Lim as one of the members of the drug triad operating in the country.

Lim last July faced Duterte and submitted himself to investigation before the NBI. He denied accusations against him and vowed to support the President and his administration’s war against illegal drugs. (Keith A. Calayag/ Sunnex)