Pampanga operation nets Korean fugitive
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported on Tuesday that BI Fugitive Search Unit (BIFSU) operatives have arrested an elusive South Korean who is wanted for swindling and defrauding his two compatriots of large sums of money in Seoul.
According to BI-FSU chief Bobby Raquepo, the suspect identified as 42-year-old Lee Beomseok was arrested on Thursday by the BI operatives inside a restaurant in Angeles City, Pampanga.
He said BI commissioner Jaime Morente immediately issued a mission order for Lee’s arrest following the request from South Korean authorities in Manila, which informed the bureau that Lee is the subject of a criminal investigation for fraud in their country.
According to BI chief, last March 2020, Lee is also the subject of an Interpol blue notice and he is also an undocumented alien due to the revocation of his passport by the South Korean government.
The suspect is now detained at the BI Detention Facility in Bicutan, Taguig City, pending the issuance and implementation of his deportation order by the bureau’s Board of Commissioners.
“He will be placed in the immigration blacklist and banned from re-entering the Philippines,” Morente said.
BI records showed that sometime in September 2013, Lee received 25 million won or about $22,000 from his first victim after persuading him to lend money for his supposed restaurant business.
After a year, Lee reportedly enticed another victim to lend him the amount of 280 million won, or roughly $248,000, which the victim transferred to his bank account in several tranches.