The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been taken into custody after the international criminal court issued a warrant for his arrest for his so-called “war on drugs”.

The president’s office said Duterte was arrested on Tuesday morning at Manila airport after flying back from Hong Kong.

“Early in the morning, Interpol Manila received the official copy of the warrant of the arrest from the ICC,” the presidential palace said in a statement. “As of now, he is under the custody of authorities.”

Duterte, 79, had responded to recent speculation that an arrest warrant was imminent, saying on Sunday: “If this is really my fate in life, that’s OK, I will accept it. There’s nothing we can do.”

Duterte became president in 2016 after promising a merciless, bloody crackdown that would rid the country of drugs. On the campaign trail he once said that there would be so many bodies dumped in Manila Bay that fish would grow fat from feeding on them.

Since his election in 2016, between 12,000 and 30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed in connection with anti-drugs operations, according to data cited by the ICC. Most of the victims were men from poor, urban areas, shot dead in the streets by police officers or unidentified assailants.

Duterte rose to power on the back of a promise to crack down on drugs and crime and kill thousand of drug dealers, a policy that became the bloody signature of his presidency.

The ICC’s investigation into the anti-drugs killings covers alleged crimes committed from November 2011 to June 2016, including a wave of extrajudicial killings in Davao City, where Duterte was previously mayor, as well as across the country during his presidency up until 16 March 16 2019, when the Philippines withdrew from the court.

This is a developing story …