THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced the arrest of four South Korean fugitives wanted by authorities in Seoul for serious crimes.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the aliens were arrested on various dates in February during separate operations conducted by the BI’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) in Metro Manila and Pampanga.

“We are in the midst of an intensified campaign to flush out these wanted foreigners who are using the country as a refuge to elude arrest and prosecution for crimes they committed in their homeland,” Tansingco said.

According to the BI chief, all four South Koreans will be deported for being undesirable and undocumented aliens, adding that their passports were already revoked by their government.

“They will also be placed [on] our blacklist, thus banning them from reentering the country,” he said.

The first to be arrested last Feb. 1 in San Antonio Village, Pasig City, was 39-year-old Chun Junghoon, who has been on the bureau’s wanted list since 2020 when he was ordered deported by the BI Board of Commissioners.

The Busan district court issued Chun an arrest warrant in January 2020 after being found to work as a telemarketer for a telecom fraud syndicate that defrauded his victims of more than 3 million Korean won or nearly US$3,000 through voice phishing.

Last Feb. 4, FSU agents arrested 44-year-old Kim Jingsuk in Bgy. Anonas, Angeles City, Pampanga, after a district court in Chuncheon, South Korea found the suspect involved in embezzling 367 million Korean won, or roughly US$300,000, from his employer by illegally selling 1,300 tons of imported coal from Russia.

Also arrested on the same date in Pampanga was Park Geon Jin, 34, who is wanted in Seoul Seobu District Court in Korea for being tagged as a member of a voice phishing organization, which has reportedly committed over 7.65 million Korean won fraud damages since their operation in 2018.

On Feb. 8, FSU operatives arrested another South Korean suspect in Angeles City, who is also wanted in Busan for illegally operating a gambling website since 2020 and generating revenues through online bets.

All four aliens are now detained at the BI Warden Facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig, pending deportation. BY JUN I. LEGASPI & HECTOR LAWAS

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Jun I. Legaspi