Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested Tuesday in Manila by police acting on an International Criminal Court warrant tied to his deadly war on drugs.
The 79-year-old faces a charge of "the crime against humanity of murder", according to the ICC, for a crackdown that rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.
"As I write this, he is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight. This is not justice -- this is oppression and persecution," Duterte's eldest daughter said in a statement.
The former president had earlier gone on Instagram live to say he believed the Philippine Supreme Court would step in and prevent his transfer to the international tribunal.
"The Supreme Court will not agree to that. We do not have an extradition treaty," he said after his lawyers filed a petition with the court.
Duterte was arrested at the airport after "Interpol Manila received the official copy of the warrant of the arrest from the ICC", the presidential palace said in a morning statement.
In an earlier video, Duterte had demanded to know the basis of his arrest.
"So what is the law and what is the crime that I committed? Show to me now the legal basis of my being here," he said.
Duterte's former chief legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, slammed his detention as "unlawful".
"The (police) didn't allow one of his lawyers to meet him at the airport and to question the legal basis for (the) arrest," he said.
Reactions from those who opposed Duterte's drug war, however, were jubilant.
One group working to support mothers of those killed in the crackdown called the arrest a "very welcome development".
"The mothers whose husbands and children were killed because of the drug war are very happy because they have been waiting for this for a very long time," Rubilyn Litao, coordinator for Rise Up for Life and for Rights, told AFP.
"Now that Duterte has been arrested, (President) Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should make sure that he is actually delivered to the ICC for detention and trial," said Philippine rights alliance Karapatan, calling the arrest "long overdue".
China, however, warned the ICC against "politicisation" and "double standards" in the Duterte case, saying it was "closely monitoring the development of the situation".
A winding path
Duterte's Tuesday morning arrest at Manila's international airport followed a brief trip to Hong Kong.
Speaking to thousands of overseas Filipino workers there Sunday, the former president decried the investigation, labelling ICC investigators "sons of whores" while saying he would "accept it" if an arrest were to be his fate.
The Philippines quit the ICC in 2019 on Duterte's instructions, but the tribunal maintained it had jurisdiction over killings before the pullout, as well as killings in the southern city of Davao when Duterte was mayor, years before he became president.
It launched a formal inquiry in September 2021, only to suspend it two months later after Manila said it was re-examining several hundred cases of drug operations that led to deaths at the hands of police, hitmen and vigilantes.
The case resumed in July 2023 after a five-judge panel rejected the Philippines' objection that the court lacked jurisdiction.
Since then, the Marcos government has on numerous instances said it would not cooperate with the investigation.
But Undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Office Claire Castro on Sunday said that if Interpol would "ask the necessary assistance from the government, it is obliged to follow".
Duterte is still hugely popular among many in the Philippines who supported his quick-fix solutions to crime, and he remains a potent political force.
He is running to reclaim his job as mayor of his stronghold Davao in May's mid-term election.
Charges have been filed locally in a handful of cases related to drug operations that led to deaths -- only nine police have been convicted for slaying alleged drug suspects.
A self-professed killer, Duterte instructed police to fatally shoot narcotics suspects if their lives were at risk and insisted the crackdown saved families and prevented the Philippines from turning into a "narco-politics state".
At the opening of a Philippine Senate probe into the drug war in October, Duterte said he offered "no apologies, no excuses" for his actions.
"I did what I had to do, and whether or not you believe it or not, I did it for my country," he said.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Dutch brother influencers arrested in Dubai
on drug charges
Dutch self-proclaimed multimillionaire brothers Samuel (25) and Ruben (23) Onuha have been arrested in Dubai, multiple sources confirmed to De Telegraaf. Their arrest is reportedly linked to drug-related charges, though authorities have not disclosed specific details.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has acknowledged being aware of the arrest but stated that it has not been asked to provide legal assistance. The brothers’ family declined to comment on the situation, and it remains unclear who is representing them legally. Dubai police have referred inquiries to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which has not responded, reportedly due to Ramadan.
The Onuha brothers, known for flaunting their wealth on social media, have reportedly become the talk of Dubai. Their arrest has sparked widespread discussion among influencers on YouTube and TikTok. Samuel, who founded the online fashion brand Icon Amsterdam in 2018, has previously claimed to have sold hundreds of thousands of pants and amassed a fortune of 30 million euros.
In Dubai, the brothers lived a high-profile lifestyle, frequently displaying luxury cars, expensive watches, and private jet trips. They also promoted dropshipping masterclasses, advertising the potential for massive earnings. In online videos, they claimed to generate millions per week through e-commerce. Samuel once stated, “The world rewards risk-takers.”
Despite their success claims, the actual financial performance of Icon Amsterdam is unclear. The company’s latest available financial statement from 2022 does not indicate the alleged multimillion-euro revenues. The company has not provided clarification, and its customer service reports significant delays in responding to inquiries. The investigation into the Onuha brothers’ case in Dubai remains ongoing.
Notorious Mexican cartel leader gets life in prison, $6B fine for drug trafficking, firearms offenses
One of the founders of a powerful Mexican cartel will spend the rest of his life in federal prison after a court imposed a life sentence plus 30 years on major drug trafficking and firearms charges. He must also forfeit more than $6 billion in illicit proceeds.
U.S.-Mexican dual national and co-founder of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, 34-year-old Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez, received the sentence in the District of Columbia, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement Friday.
Prosecutors confirmed that he oversaw the importation of multi-ton shipments of illegal drugs into the U.S. and directed violent acts on behalf of the cartel.
According to officials, he personally killed five individuals who owed him money, and he shot both a rival cartel member and a subordinate. Investigators found that he carried firearms, including a rifle and grenade launcher bearing his nickname, which he used to threaten Mexican law enforcement during his arrest.
Court documents also noted that he ordered the murder of more than 100 people, and he participated in some of those killings himself.
“This defendant helped build Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion into a brutal terrorist organization that pumps poison onto our streets and commits horrific acts of violence,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
Oseguera-Gonzalez co-founded the cartel with his father, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as El Mencho, who remains a fugitive.
Oseguera-Gonzalez’s role included trafficking more than 50 metric tons of cocaine and overseeing laboratories that produced at least 1,000 metric tons of methamphetamine in Mexico. Court filings revealed that he contributed to the early stages of a fentanyl operation and once pledged to “do it big” by creating counterfeit oxycontin pills laced with fentanyl.
Oseguera-Gonzalez’s leadership in the CJNG spanned nearly seven years in Mexico. During this period, he reportedly provided weapons and orchestrated brutal activities to maintain cartel operations.
He directed a 2015 attack on a Mexican military helicopter. The helicopter was shot down while pursuing Oseguera-Gonzalez and his father, leading to the death of at least nine Mexican service members and permanently disfiguring at least one other.
The Department of Justice confirmed that Oseguera-Gonzalez’s intent was to evade capture, and the incident delayed efforts by Mexican authorities to apprehend him.
Oseguera-Gonzalez operated on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The cartel’s geographic reach included several Mexican states, as well as shipments that infiltrated American markets.
Last month, a binational enforcement operation between Mexico and the U.S. disrupted a cartel-linked smuggling network that allegedly kidnapped migrants and extorted their families. Mexican authorities arrested two suspects, identified as Brian Alan Torres Gonzalez and Soledad Morales Nava, who will face prosecution in Mexico with evidence from U.S. officials.
Officials believe it not only moved adults but also children from Central America into El Paso, Texas, allegedly demanding payment before completing the migrants’ entry into the U.S.
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