The Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced on Sunday that, as of 2023, its agents had apprehended a total of 128 foreign nationals who were wanted for various crimes within their own nation.
In a report given to BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the BI Fugitive Search Unit (BI-FSU) said that these foreign fugitives were apprehended during a variety of operations carried out by BI-FSU agents in various locations across the nation where the aforementioned foreigners were hiding or had lodged since entering the country.
The BI-FSU also reported that most of the fugitives who have been captured have already been deported and are serving prison sentences in their native countries after being found guilty of the crimes they are thought to have committed.
Tansingco commended the BI-FSU for its accomplishments, saying it sends a signal that our country is not a refuge or sanctuary for foreign criminals who want to evade arrest and prosecution for crimes they committed in their country.
“Our country is off limits to these foreign fugitives. They are not welcome here, and there will be no letup in our campaign to hunt and deport them so they could be tried for the criminal cases that were filed against them,” the BI chief declared.
The BI-FSU also reported that 39 South Koreans account for the bulk of the arrested fugitives, followed by 25 Chinese nationals, 15 Vietnamese, 12 Taiwanese, 11 Americans, and 8 Japanese.
Other fugitives have committed financial crimes, scams involving investments, illegal gaming, money laundering, fraud in the telecommunications sector, robberies, and smuggling.
A notable arrest was that of Manpreet Singh and his cohorts last March, who were tagged as members of an extremist group known as the Khalistan Tiger Force in India.
Also arrested in 2023 were Risa Yamada, Fujita Kairi, and Sato Shohei, who were located in January, March, and April for their affiliation with the infamous ‘Luffy’ syndicate.
All of them were already included in the immigration blacklist of undesirable aliens; hence, they are perpetually barred from re-entering the country.
