Timor-Leste police nabs Interpol red-listed Teves
MANILA, Philippines (First published March 21, 2024; 11:40 p.m.) — Law enforcement authorities of East Timor have arrested the expelled lawmaker Arnolfo Teves Jr., the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed on Thursday evening.
In a Facebook post of East Timor’s Polícia Científica e de Investigação Criminal on Thursday, the authorities said that they arrested Teves at 4 p.m., Thursday.
The expelled lawmaker has been included in the Interpol Red List on February 27.
An Interpol red notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide “to locate and arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.”
In a separate statement, the DOJ said that Teves was arrested while playing golf at a driving range in Dili, East Timor.
The expelled lawmaker is now under the custody of the Timor-Leste police while his extradition to the Philippines is being worked out by Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Dili.
Teves was tagged as the alleged mastermind in the killing of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo on March 4, 2023.
The former solon is also facing a separate warrant of arrest for a murder case in the killings of three individuals in Negros Oriental in 2019.
In August 2023, the Anti-Terrorism Council designated Teves as a terrorist, alleging that his leadership of an armed group involved orchestrating killings and a series of harassments in Negros Oriental.
The suspended lawmaker was also charged for financing terrorism under Section 4 of the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012, as well as similar provisions under the Anti-Terrorism Law.
Meanwhile, Pamplona, Negros Oriental Mayor Janice Degamo, the late governor's wife, reacted to the arrest of Teves in a Facebook post.
"Words cannot express how it feels to finally see the man who terrorized our province and brutally murdered my husband surrounded by police," she said.
Teves’ lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, has yet to respond to Philstar.com's request for comment about the expelled lawmaker's arrest. This story will be updated with his response.
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