Bureau of Immigration rounds up 55 foreign fugitives in 2020

Bureau of Immigration. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ ALEXIS CORPUZ

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Tuesday said for the whole year of 2020, the agency was able to round up a total of 55 foreign fugitives wanted in their respective countries for serious crimes.

In a statement, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said that BI’s record of fugitive arrests was a significant drop compared to 2019’s record of 420. This is due to quarantine restrictions set in place for the majority of 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Morente said.

According to BI Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) head Bobby Raquepo, there were 26 South Koreans that topped the list of those who were arrested, followed by 10 Japanese nationals, nine Americans, six Chinese nationals, a Briton, a Russian, a Czech, and a Saudi national.

Those who were arrested include sex offenders, investment scammers, swindlers, and telecommunications fraudsters.

“Fraud and economic crimes topped the crimes committed by these fugitives, followed by telecom fraud, cybercrime fraud, and sexual offenses,” Raquepo said.

“Despite the challenges that the pandemic has brought to us, we still managed to apprehend high profile fugitives wanted for serious offenses by authorities in their home countries,” Morente said.

JPV