MANILA, Philippines — More than a hundred fugitives from China topped the list of arrested foreign criminals in 2018, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported on Thursday.
Out of the arrested 257 foreign fugitives, the BI said 116 were Chinese nationals, followed by 80 Taiwanese, 27 Koreans, 16 Thai nationals, eight Americans, five Britons, a Dutch, one Swede, one Japanese, one German and one Norwegian.
According to the BI, Chinese also topped the list of rude foreign nationals barred from entering the Philippines..
READ: BI: Chinese nationals top list of barred aliens
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the recorded number of fugitives this year was higher than last year’s record of 232 alien fugitives.
Statistics from the BI showed that 98 arrested criminals were wanted for fraud and economic crimes; 98 for telecom fraud; 44 for cybercrime; seven for sex offenses; five for kidnapping; one for robbery extortion; one for gun possession and drug distribution; and one for smuggling.
Morente said most of the arrested foreign fugitives were deported and served their jail sentences after trial and conviction.
“All of them were also placed in our blacklist of undesirable aliens to make sure that they do not return and pose threat to our public safety and security,” Morente said in a statement.
Among the major operations conducted by BI’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) led to the arrest of 16 Thai nationals and three Taiwanese nationals for alleged call center fraud in Parañaque City last June 14.
The BI FSU also arrested many high-profile criminals such as Japan’s top fugitive Misao Kaminsukaso, who was wanted for fraud in Japan; American priest Fr. Kenneth Bernard Hendricks, who was wanted for alleged child abuse; and Taiwanese Oren Shlomo Mayer who was wanted for the murder of a Canadian teacher. /muf