Immigration to deport Korean, Japanese fugitives

A Japanese and a Korean fugitive will be deported to their home countries following their arrests last month, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Monday.

In a statement, the BI said they are deporting both fugitives so they could face justice and be sentenced for their crimes in their respective countries.

“The Bureau is weeding out these fugitives attempting to use the Philippines to hide and escape liability from their crimes in their homelands,” BI Spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval said.

The BI said that the Japanese and Korean fugitives, identified the as 57-year-old Masaya Nonoyama and 36-year-old Lee Jong Hyun, were arrested last Oct. 22 in Taguig City and Dasmariñas City in Cavite, respectively.

Nonoyama is wanted in Japan for embezzlement while Lee is an alleged fraudster and swindler in Korea. Both are currently detained at the Bicutan Detention Center pending deportation proceedings.

The BI said Nonomoya was issued a warrant of arrest for “embezzlement in the pursuit of social activities” and has been hiding in the country since 2015.

Meanwhile, Lee is reportedly on the Interpol’s red notice list and is wanted for swindling a compatriot of more than P3.5 million and for seven other fraud cases in Korea. Lee has been in the country since January 2014.

Sandoval said the fugitives will be banned from re-entering the country and their passports have been canceled by their governments, making them undocumented aliens.

“They will also be banned from re-entering the country. Their passports have already been canceled by their governments, hence they are also considered undocumented aliens,” she said. /je