Duterte held and flown to The Hague over drug war killings in the Philippines

'You will just have to kill me. I won't allow you to take the side of the white foreigners' Rodrigo Duterte Former Philippines president

- Rebecca Ratcliffe

The former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte left Manila on a plane headed to The Hague hours after he was served with an arrest warrant from the international criminal court over the killings resulting from his "war on drugs".

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told a press conference that a plane carrying Duterte took off at 11.03pm local time last night. "The plane is en route to The Hague in the Netherlands, allowing the former president to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his bloody war on drugs," he said.

Duterte's youngest daughter, Veronica Duterte, said on social media that the plane had been used to "kidnap" her father.

The former leader, who will turn 80 this month, is accused by ICC prosecutors of crimes against humanity over his anti-drugs crackdowns in which as many as 30,000 people were killed. Most of the victims were men in poor, urban areas who were gunned down in the streets.

Duterte was arrested yesterday morning at Manila's main 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."

Video shared online had earlier showed the former leader walking with a stick and being helped to board the stairs of a plane, surrounded by security.

Marcos, who was previously allied with Duterte's elder daughter, Sara, the country's vice-president, had in the past refused to cooperate with the ICC investigation. However, his stance shifted after the two families became embroiled in a feud.