BI checking if suspected drug lord back in PH

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration is still verifying if the suspected Chinese drug lord who was allegedly set free by the men of former Philippine National Police chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde six years ago was the same person who reentered the country last month.

Immigration records showed that a certain Johnson Lee arrived in the country on Sept. 30.

“There was no departure record, only [an] arrival [date],” BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said on Thursday.

“Johnson Lee has numerous namesakes [in the BI database]. We have submitted possible matches to the office of Sen. [Panfilo] Lacson for verification of his identity,” she added.

“Identity has yet to be verified, but birth date and passport number are a match,” she said.

Lee, an alleged drug trafficker, was arrested in a drug bust conducted by the 13-men team led by Supt. Rodney Baloyo IV in November 2013 at Woodbridge Subdivision in Mexico, Pampanga.

However, he was supposedly allowed to escape in exchange for P50 million.

The antidrug operation yielded 38 kilos of “shabu” (crystal meth) and a “substantial” amount of cash.

An investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, however, showed that 200 kilos of shabu were seized instead of only 38 kilos.