PHILIPPINE immigration officers have arrested two South Korean nationals wanted for telecommunications fraud in their home country.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI), in a statement dated April 5, reported the arrest on Sunday of the two fugitives who have red notices from the International Criminal Police (Interpol).
A red notice is a request to authorities worldwide to arrest a fugitive wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence.
Communication between BI and Interpol showed that the fugitives are members of separate telecom and voice phishing fraud syndicates that swindled victims of $66,000 and $43,200, respectively.
The suspects made calls to victims who were duped into transferring money to the syndicates’ bank accounts.
Immigration Chief Jamie H. Morente issued a deportation order for one of the fugitives in 2017 while the other has yet to undergo deportation proceedings before the BI legal division.
“The two of them will be expelled, blacklisted, and banned from re-entering the country for being undesirable aliens,” Mr. Morente said.
BI said the South Koreans’ passports have been revoked by their government and have been hiding in the Philippines for almost six years.
The two are detained at the BI holding facility in Taguig while awaiting deportation. — John Victor D. Ordonez