BI set to deport 3 alien fugitives

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is set to deport three foreigners arrested recently for being wanted criminals in their homelands.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente disclosed that the alien fugitives – two Koreans and a Chinese – were arrested last week during operations conducted in Mindoro and Cebu by elements from the bureau’s fugitive search unit (FSU) headed by BI Intelligence Officer Bobby Raquepo.

Morente said he ordered the three foreigners’ arrest when he learned from their embassies in Manila that they were wanted and that their passports have been cancelled, thus making them undocumented aliens.

“We will expel and send them back to their countries so they could be tried and penalized for their crimes. The Philippines is not a hideout or a sanctuary for wanted criminals,” the BI chief declared.

The first fugitive to fall was identified as Chinese national Xu Chongchao, 30, who was arrested on July 13 in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro. He is wanted in China for largescale economic crimes.

On July 15, BI-FSU operatives arrested 39-year-old Jeon Junbeom at his residence in Villas Magallanes, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu. Jeon is allegedly subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Joongang district court in Seoul where he was accused of defrauding his compatriots of more than 563 million Korean won or nearly US$5 million through his swindling activities.

That same day, immigration agents proceeded to the Prince Court Suites Hotel in Mandaue City, Cebu where they collared 31-year-old Joung Ho Jin.

Joung was arrested on the strength of a warrant issued against him on October 5 last year for being a fugitive from justice and for being an undocumented alien. The Korean embassy said Joung had a standing warrant of arrest issued by a Seoul district court where he was charged with fraud.