Alert on vs drug cartel assassins

MANILA, Philippines - Authorities are on alert against the entry of assassins sent by the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel to “silence” their members earlier arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Justice Secretary Leila de Lima bared yesterday.

De Lima confirmed that the NBI has received an intelligence report from its counterparts abroad that a Canadian gang with links to the Sinaloa drug cartel had sent two of its members to the country.

 â€œThese two were sent or being sent here to access their members who had been arrested by the NBI and to ‘silence’ them,” she said in an interview.

De Lima was referring to Canadians James Riach and Barry Espadilla, alleged members of the Independent Soldiers gang in Vancouver, arrested by the NBI in a drug raid on a condominium in Taguig City last Jan. 15. 

She said she has already alerted the Bureau of Immigration (BI) about the two alleged assassins, whose photos were also obtained by the NBI. She said the matter has also been forwarded to the Philippine National Police  and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

De Lima added that she met with officials of the NBI and BI – both under her office’s administrative supervision – to discuss measures to prevent entry of foreigners with criminal records.

She questioned why Riach and Espadilla were able to enter  the country when they were previously convicted of several crimes in Canada.

 â€œThere was no advice from the Interpol or any other law enforcement agency of their country of origin, that’s why it was not in the BI database,” she said.

De Lima explained that foreigners are allowed to enter the country if Philippine authorities hold no criminal records of them.

“So I instructed both BI and NBI to always alert each other every time they have information about criminal records of foreigners,” she added.

Last Christmas, three drug suspects – Chinese Gary Tan and Filipino couple Argay and Rochelle Argenos – reportedly with ties to the Sinaloa drug cartel were arrested and 84 kilos of shabu seized during a raid on the LPL Ranch in Lipa, Batangas.