Lovely Adam Impal: One of Kerwin Espinosa’s alleged top drug suppliers. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Lovely Adam Impal, one of Kerwin Espinosa’s alleged top suppliers of drugs, has been allowed to leave Camp Crame after surrendering to Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.
Senior Supt. Albert Ferro, chief of the PNP’s anti-illegal drugs unit, said Impal left from the custody of the police last week.
“She’s in a secured place right now. What I know so far is that she’s with her family,” Ferro said in an ambush interview at Camp Crame on the first founding anniversary of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group on Friday.
Ferro explained that they released Impal because there is no arrest warrant against her for her alleged involvement in illegal drugs.
READ: Espinosa ‘drug source’ surrenders to Dela Rosa
“Unfortunately, there’s no warrant of arrest so we have no authority or legal basis to detain her,” he said.
But the anti-narcotics chief said members of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are providing security for Impal.
It is up to the local police units that have jurisdiction over her areas of operation if they would file charges against Impal, Ferro said.
Kerwin, tagged as the biggest drug lord in Eastern Visayas, said his top sources of drugs were Impal and fellow drug lord in Central Visayas Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz.
READ: Kerwin names drug sources in Senate hearing
Kerwin claimed that he had been transacting with them since 2005 when he was still an underling of Diaz. Diaz was killed in a shootout with policemen in Las Piñas City, on June 17.
Kerwin said it was Diaz who introduced him to Impal when they met inside the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) in Lahug, Cebu City.
Impal is a native of Cagayan De Oro but she owns properties in Iligan City, Bukidnon province, said Kerwin.
While inside the jail, Kerwin said he would ask his men, including a village councilor, to sell drugs he sourced from Impal. IDL