THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) is preparing the deportation of five foreign fugitives who were recently arrested by its operatives for crimes that the foreigners allegedly committed in their respective countries.
Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said the latest catch of wanted foreigners include an American, a Chinese, a Taiwanese, and two Koreans who were apprehended in separate operations conducted by the BI’s fugitive search unit.
“There will be no letup in our campaign to catch and expel these fugitives whose presence here poses a serious threat to public safety and security,” Viado said.
“They will be deported for being undesirable aliens and blacklisted to prevent them from re-entering the country which they used as a sanctuary to evade arrest and prosecution for their criminal offenses,” he added.
First to be arrested was 66-year old Paul Raymond Ross who is wanted in Pennsylvania for extortion and harassment. He was apprehended last December 2 in Kabankalan City, Negros Oriental.
Viado said Ross has already pled guilty to one count of extortion through threatening communications for which he was sentence by a US court to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
Last December 3, immigration operatives also arrested in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu overstaying Koreans Jung Yunjae and Jeon Hyeonuk who are both wanted for kidnapping in South Korea.
The two Koreans, according to Viado, have an outstanding warrant of arrest issued by the Ulsan District Court in South Korea where they were charged for luring a victim to work in Cambodia as a model for indecent advertisements.
Likewise apprehended last December 6 was 64-year-old Chinese national Ji Shunchao who is wanted by the Shishi Municipal Public Security Bureau in China for claiming fraudulent tax refunds.
Ji is being prosecuted for allegedly buying an export declaration information sheet and using it, along with counterfeit VAT special invoices, to avail of export tax refunds amounting to almost 14 million renminbi, or roughly US$2 million.
Taiwanese national Ye Tian Hao was also arrested in Pasay City last December 8 based on a warrant of arrest issued against him by the district prosecutor in Taichung, Taiwan where he was indicted for fraud.
All five fugitives are detained at the BI warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City while their deportation is being processed.
