Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Suspected Eastern Visayas drug lord Kerwin Espinosa has been transferred to the national headquarters of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
A convoy of police vehicles brought Espinosa to the NBI compound along Taft Avenue, Manila around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. Espinosa wore a bullet-proof vest and was heavily guarded. He did not give any statement.
Espinosa had been under the custody of the Philippine National Police – Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (PNP-AIDG) since his arrest in Abu Dhabi last October. Last week, a court in Baybay, Leyte ordered his transfer to the NBI.
Espinosa is the son of Rolando Espinosa, Sr., the mayor of the town of Albuera in the central Philippine island province of Leyte.
Police arrested the older Espinosa over charges of illegal possession of dangerous drugs and firearms on October 5. Both father and son were tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte in his list of alleged illegal drug coddlers and traffickers.
The older Espinosa was shot and killed by police on November 5 when they served a search warrant on his jail cell. Former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 8 (CIDG-8) head, Police Superintendent Marvin Marcos — who held office at that time — said Espinosa refused to have his jail cell searched and fired at the policemen using a gun that he somehow managed to sneak into his cell. Marcos said he and his men fired back in self-defense, killing Espinosa.
However, a probe by the National Bureau of Investigation showed that Espinosa’s killing was a rub out — not a shootout. “We maintain it was a rubout. There was a criminal intent. Pumunta talaga doon para patayin si Espinosa [They really went there to kill Espinosa],” NBI spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin said on December 6.
Espinosa’s testimony
On November 23, Kerwin Espinosa named former generals, a drug enforcement agent, and police officials — including the officer who killed his father — as the protectors of his illegal drug business.
Reading his sworn affidavit during the Senate probe on his father’s killing, Espinosa said “SOP” or drug payoffs were given to the officers in exchange for the protection of his drug trade in Region 8.
Espinosa bared he gave money to former General Vicente Loot through Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 8 C/Insp. Leo Laraga for at least a year, to stop the general from cracking down on the drug business.
Laraga led the operation that killed Kerwin’s father, Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa, inside his jail cell. He had since admitted he shot and killed the mayor.
