Immigration nabs Taiwan’s most wanted man

MANILA, Philippines — The most wanted fugitive in Taipei has been arrested in the country, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said yesterday.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said Oren Shlomo Mayer was nabbed by operatives of the bureau’s fugitive search unit and intelligence agents of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Cainta, Rizal on Sept. 6.

Mayer, dubbed as Taiwan’s No. 1 most wanted criminal for the killing of a teacher last month, was brought to the BI detention center in Bicutan, Taguig City for deportation proceedings.

Morente said the arrested fugitive will be deported to his country to face homicide charges for the killing Canadian teacher Sanjay Ryan Ramgahan, cutting his body into several pieces and dumping them into the river.

“He is on the list of Taiwan’s most wanted fugitives, and is said to be a big-time drug personality in that country. He is an undesirable alien, and it is our duty to deport him so he may be punished for his crimes,” he stressed.

The BI chief said he issued the mission order for Mayer’s arrest on Sept. 4.

“We have received information both from US and Taiwan authorities about Mayer’s crimes, and both requested that he be deported to Taiwan,” he revealed.

Mayer, who uses the alias “Oz Diamond,” is subject of a felony warrant from the Taiwan New Taipei District prosecutor’s office issued on Aug. 24 for his criminal case.

Records showed that Mayer fled to Manila on Aug. 25, four days after he and two other suspects were implicated in the murder of Ramgahan as the latter was walking his dog along a riverside park near Zhongzheng Bridge in Taipei’s Yonghe District.

The murder was allegedly planned by three suspects. Mayer, with a cohort, allegedly rode bicycles to the area and waited for their victim whom they pounced on and tied with a metal chain, before hacking with machetes.

He added that Mayer is also an undocumented alien as his American passport was revoked by the US government.

The BI also received a report that Mayer is suspected of being the biggest supplier of marijuana in Northern Taiwan, and that the killing may have been precipitated by an alleged drug dispute with the victim.