IMMIGRATION agents apprehended a Korean wanted by authorities in Seoul for operating an illegal gambling site on the internet.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Lee Jaehun, 45, was arrested on Tuesday inside a commercial complex in Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City based on a warrant he issued pursuant to a summary deportation order signed in March 2017 tagging Lee as an undesirable and overstaying alien.
“There is no holiday break for our operatives,” said Morente. “If you are a foreign national staying here illegally, it is best you legalize your stay before the holidays, unless you want to spend it being arrested and deported.”
The South Korean government had revoked Lee’s passport, making him an undesirable alien.
Morente said Lee had been in the country for almost a decade as BI record showed he last arrived in Manila in 2012.
Lee is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Changwon district court in Korea nearly five years ago after he was charged for violating his country’s law against illegal gambling.
He was accused of conspiring with other suspects in operating an online server wherein customers would gamble by betting on the results of sports competitions.
Morente said South Korean authorities placed the amount of money that gamblers had bet on the site from January 2015 to October 2016 at more than 1.4 trillion won or roughly US$1.17 million.
Lee is detained at the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City pending his deportation order.
