Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on Tuesday after landing at Manila’s international airport by police. He was arrested at the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a major step in its investigation into thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings. The \”war on drugs\” was firebrand former leader Duterte’s signature campaign policy that swept the crime-busting mayor to power in 2016. The former leader had denied ordering the murders of drug suspects and said he instructed police to kill only in self-defence. According to police, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations that they say ended in shootouts. But rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the European Union all criticised the controversial leader for bombastic statements he made that appeared to support the killing. The arrest follows years of Duterte taunting the ICC since he unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the court’s founding treaty in 2019. The Philippines had until last year refused to cooperate with the ICC’s investigation.