Number of foreign fugitives nabbed in PH more than doubled in 2019

MANILA, Philippines — Immigration operatives have arrested this year over 400 foreign fugitives who hid in the Philippines to evade prosecution for their crimes.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday said this figure is 64 percent higher than the number in 2018.

“They can no longer come back because they have been placed in our blacklist of undesirable aliens,” BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said in a statement.

“We cannot allow these criminals to use the Philippines as their sanctuary,” he added.

Morente said a majority of the 421 alien fugitives arrested by the bureau’s fugitive search unit (FSU) have already been deported to their countries of origin and are now serving their sentences behind bars.

The BI chief said the arrested aliens were wanted for various serious offenses, including rape, child molestation, illegal drugs, fraud, cyber crimes, and large-scale economic crimes.

BI FSU Chief Bobby Raquepo disclosed that they have been in “close coordination with foreign authorities to locate and arrest wanted aliens, whose stay in the country is detrimental to public safety and interest.”

Statistics from the FSU showed that the bulk of those arrested were 324 Chinese nationals.

Of the number, 277 were rounded up during a raid of their lairs at the Ortigas Center in Pasig City last September.

These Chinese nationals, Raquepo noted, were all wanted for involvement in a large-scale investment scam wherein a thousand of their compatriots were victimized and whose combined losses amounted to more than 100 million yuan or more than US$14 million.

In November, FSU operatives also arrested 36 Japanese nationals wanted for involvement in telecom fraud and theft and whose victims allegedly incurred losses of more than 2 billion yen or more than US$18 million.

The list of arrested fugitives also included 27 Koreans, 20 Americans, three other Japanese nationals, three Taiwanese and two Britons.

Operatives also arrested one Russian, one Swede, one Malaysian, one Colombian, one Australian, and one German this year.

Morente then vowed for a more intensified campaign against illegal aliens and foreign fugitives next year.

“These criminals are not welcome here in the Philippines. Many of which are part of international syndicates that try to relocate their operations in the country,” he said.

“We will not allow this. They will be arrested, deported, and immediately banned from returning,” he added.

Edited by JE