128 wanted foreigners arrested in 2023 - BI

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said it has arrested 128 foreign nationals who are wanted for various crimes in their respective homelands.

In a report to Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the BI’s fugitive search unit (FSU) said the alien fugitives were captured in various operations nationwide.

The FSU also reported that majority of the suspects were already deported serving time in prison in their respective countries.

Tansingco commended the FSU for its accomplishments, saying it sends a signal that the Philippines is not a refuge or sanctuary for foreign criminals who want to evade arrest and prosecution for crimes they committed in their country.

“Our country is off limits to these foreign fugitives. They are not welcome here and there will be no letup in our campaign to hunt and deport them so they could be tried for the criminal cases that were filed against them,” the BI chief said.

The FSU also reported that 39 South Koreans account for the bulk of the arrested fugitives.

This was followed by 25 Chinese nationals, 15 Vietnamese, 12 Taiwanese, 11 Americans, and eight Japanese.

Offenses committed by the others include involvement in economic crimes, investment scams, illegal gambling, money laundering, telecommunications fraud, robbery, and smuggling.

A notable arrest was that of Manpreet Singh and his cohorts last March.

They were tagged as members of an extremist group known as the Khalistan Tiger Force in

I n d i a.

Also arrested in 2023 were Risa Yamada,

Fujita Kairi, and Sato Shohei . They were located in January, March, and April for their affiliation with the infamous ‘Luffy’syndicate.

All of them were included in the immigration blacklist of undesirable aliens, hence they are perpetually barred from re-entering the country.