FOUR South Korean fugitives wanted by Seoul authorities for telecom fraud and illegal gambling will be deported to face charges in their country, said the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Wednesday.
Commissioner Norman Tansingco, in a statement, said the foreigners were apprehended on various dates this month by the BI’s fugitive search unit (FSU).
The first to be arrested in San Antonio Village, Pasig City last Feb. 1 was Chun Junghoon, 39, who has been on the bureau’s wanted list since 2020 when he was ordered deported by the BI board of commissioners.
They are now detained at the BI warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig pending deportation.
A Busan district court issued an arrest warrant against Chun in January 2020 after being found to work as a telemarketer for a telecom fraud syndicate that defrauded his victims of more than 3 million won or nearly USD3,000 through voice phishing.
On Feb. 4, Kim Jingsuk, 44, was apprehended in Barangay Anonas, Angeles City, Pampanga province, allegedly wanted by a district court in Chuncheon, South Korea for embezzling 367 million won, or roughly US$300,000 from his employer by illegally selling 1,300 tons of imported coal from Russia.
Likewise arrested on the same date also in the same province was Park Geon Jin, 34, who is wanted in Seoul Seobu District Court in Korea for being tagged as a member of a voice phishing organization, which has reportedly defrauded victims of over 7.65 million Korean won since their operation in 2018.
On Feb. 8, Park Kyoungtae, 40, was apprehended in Angeles City, who is also wanted in Busan for illegally operating a gambling website since 2020, and generating revenues through online bets.
“We are in the midst of an intensified campaign to flush out these wanted foreigners who are using the country as a refuge to elude arrest and prosecution for crimes they committed in their homeland,” Tansingco said.
He added that the foreign nationals will be deported for being undesirable and undocumented aliens, adding that their passports were already revoked by their government.
“They will also be placed in our blacklist, thus banning them from reentering the country,” the BI chief said.
They are now detained at the BI warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig pending deportation.
