According to sources, Espinosa arrived in Abu Dhabi using an authentic Philippine passport on August 1 via Etihad Airways flight 833 from Hong Kong.
Khaleej Times has managed to get its hands on the tourist visa used by Filipino drug lord Kerwin Espinosa to enter UAE.
The long-term single-entry visa was issued on July 26, 2016 in Dubai in the name of Rolan Eslabon Espinosa (Kerwin’s real name), and shows his profession as sales representative.
Philippine authorities are coordinating with the Abu Dhabi Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for the immediate repatriation of the Philippines’ No. 2 most wanted person involved in illegal drugs trade, who was arrested on Sunday night in Abu Dhabi.
Espinosa, 36, is the biggest drug lord in Eastern Visayas and No. 2 on the Philippines’ most wanted list, senior superintendent Albert Ferro, acting director of the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Group, told Khaleej Times.
“Our ambassador (Constancio Vingno, Jr.) is coordinating with the Ministry of Interior for the possible repatriation to the Philippines of Espinosa,” Ferro said. “There is no definite date yet for this but we will comply with the requirements so Kerwin can finally serve justice for the crimes he committed in our country.”
In an exclusive interview with Khaleej Times, Ferro said: “The successful arrest of Kerwin was made possible following a tipoff from the UAE. Someone has seen Espinosa, who’s always on Filipino news channel, and gave an anonymous information to the Philippine police.”
“Our chief (PNP director general Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa) then coordinated with the Abu Dhabi Police to process the information and a team led by me was dispatched here last week to execute the arrest,” Ferro continued.
“On Sunday, we got the red notice (an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol or the International Criminal Police Organization) from Lyon, France and our police attache provided this document to Abu Dhabi Police who initiated the arrest of Kerwin.”
Dubai Police – who were working with their counterparts in Abu Dhabi – confirmed the arrest.
“Kerwin is now under the custody of the Abu Dhabi CID following his arrest on Sunday night at 10pm,” Philippine ambassador Constancion Vingno, Jr said. “As per information given to us by the PNP, he left the Philipines via the backdoor to Kuala Lumpur then proceeded to Hong Kong.
