No record indicating Peter Lim recently left Philippines — BI

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Monday there is no record indicating that suspected drug lord Peter Lim has recently left the country.

Lim is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by a Makati City court in 2018 for a case for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading.

“We note that Peter Lim has numerous namesakes, with at least one having left the country recently,” BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said.

“However, upon thorough verification with our system, as well as document matching, Mr. Peter Go Lim, the subject of news articles, has no recent departure record as of date.”

Asked if Lim could have managed to leave the country using an alias, Sandoval said, “If he used a fraudulent passport, then our equipment would be able to detect it.”

Lim’s passport expired in 2019, according to the Department of Justice. His last foreign trip was in 2017, the DOJ added.

“We cannot really be sure. Our country has a very extensive coastline. There are known backdoors in our southern borders,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said when asked if Lim could still be in the Philippines.

Earlier, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said he believes Lim is not in the country anymore.

Philippine National Police chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar said on Monday they are validating such a report. — RSJ, GMA News