MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday said that it discovered four Chinese fugitives among over 2,000 workers rescued during a raid conducted by authorities on a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) firm in Las Piñas City last June 27.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said these findings were from the ongoing documentation conducted by the police force’s Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) on the 2,714 rescued individuals.
“Kasama po dun sa nadiskubre na may apat na Chinese national na wanted sa China based sa records na prinovide ng ating Chinese counterpart ay mga involved po sila fraud and drug trafficking,” Fajardo told reporters.
(We discovered four Chinese nationals who are wanted in China based on the records provided by our Chinese counterpart; they are involved in fraud and drug trafficking.)
She added that authorities would be turning the foreign fugitives in to the Chinese Embassy for deportation within the day or in the next succeeding days.
Of the 2,714 rescued, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) revealed that 1,528 were Filipino workers, while the other 1,186 were from 17 other countries — 600 from China; 83 from Vietnam; 137 from Indonesia; 134 from Malaysia; 81 from Thailand; 21 from Taiwan; seven from Nigeria; five from Singapore; five from Myanmar; four from Yemen; two each from Pakistan and Africa; and one each from India, Somalia, Sudan, Cameroon, and Iran.
The profiling of these workers is still ongoing, but based on the latest information Fajardo received from ACG, authorities have recovered the passports of around 600 rescued individuals of the 1,000 screened so far.
She further noted that the representatives of embassies of China, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam have also arrived in the Philippines to assist the rescued workers from their respective countries.
On June 27, the police rescued Filipino and foreign workers of Xinchuang Network Technology Inc. and served warrants to the firm for its alleged violation of the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.
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