257 foreign fugitives arrested in Philippines in 2018

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 257 foreign fugitives were arrested in the country last year, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said yesterday. 

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said this figure showed an increase from the 232 foreign criminals arrested in 2017.

Morente said the fugitives were arrested in various operations conducted throughout the country by operatives from the bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU).

Records show that 98 of the captured fugitives were wanted for fraud and economic crimes; 98 for telecom fraud; 44 for cybercrimes; seven for sex offenses; five for kidnapping; one for robbery extortion; one for gun possession and drug distribution and one for smuggling.

It was also learned that 116 Chinese topped the list of the arrested fugitives, followed by 80 Taiwanese, 27 Koreans, 16 Thais, eight Americans and five Britons.

Among the major operations conducted by BI-FSU operatives was the raid on a call center in Parañaque City last June that led to the arrest of 16 Thais and three Taiwanese.

In July last year, seven Chinese wanted for cyber fraud by Beijing authorities were arrested in Pasay City.

The FSU also cited as a major accomplishment the arrest in Las Piñas City last November of five Chinese suspected of being members of a kidnapping syndicate that preys on Chinese tourists in the country.

The unit also successfully arrested several high-profile criminals, including Japan’s top fugitive Misao Kaminsukaso a.k.a. Misao Koyama, wanted for defrauding billions of yen from compatriots in Japan; American priest Fr. Kenneth Bernard Hendricks, wanted in Ohio for allegedly sexually molesting altar boys; and Taiwan’s most wanted criminal Oren Shlomo Mayer, for murdering a Canadian teacher, dismembering the body and dumping the remains into a river.

Morente said most of the fugitives have been deported and are now serving their jail sentences after trial and conviction.

The BI continues with its drive again foreign fugitives with the recent arrest of Xie Haojie, a former Chinese government official national wanted in China for corruption and involvement in large-scale economic crimes.