A TOTAL of 49 South Korean fugitives said to be involved in various crimes were deported at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Wednesday.
According to BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval, the mass deportation was arranged by the BI’s deportation and implementation unit (DIU) in coordination with the South Korean Embassy, which provided logistical assistance to expedite the said deportation of their nationals.
The fugitives, comprising of six females and 43 males, were escorted back to South Korea by representatives from BI and the South Korean government. They were summarily deported after being tagged by their government as fugitives from justice.
It was learned that most of those deported faced cases of fraud in South Korea and that the decongestion of the BI’s holding facility, as well as the speedy deportation of illegal aliens, remains a priority of the bureau.
BI fugitive search unit (FSU) chief Rendel Ryan Sy said that among those deported is Choi Hojun, 36, who was arrested by the in Angeles City, Pampanga last April 14.
According to Sy, Choi is wanted in South Korea for allegedly being the mastermind of a messaging phishing syndicate based in China and the Philippines. Their criminal organization reportedly transferred a total of KRW 1.7 B by illegally accessing sensitive information, particularly banking data of around 200 victims.
Another deportee, identified as Han Jonghoon, 42, was arrested by the FSU in Annapolis, San Juan City last July 4 for allegedly operating 23 illegal online gambling websites targeting Koreans, and reportedly pocketing more than KRW 2 Trillion in profits.
Also deported were Jung Hoesung, 40 and Choi Byeongil, 44. Jung is wanted in Korea for operating illegal online platforms and subjecting recruits to intimidation and physical assault while Choi, on the other hand, is wanted for allegedly being the mastermind behind a real estate deposit loan scam, embezzling billions of Korean won.
