THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced the successful arrest of a high-value Chinese fugitive wanted for large-scale telecommunications fraud.
Chinese national Zhao Jianfeng, 28, was apprehended during an operation conducted on June 28 in a residential area at the Clark Freeport Zone in Mabalacat City.
BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said that Zhao is the subject of a detention warrant issued by the Liangqing Branch of the Nanning Municipal Public Security Bureau in China dated June 16, 2025.
Based on a report from the Chinese government, Zhao is one of the core members of a transnational criminal syndicate involved in telecom and online investment scams targeting Chinese citizens. All suspects were reportedly based in the Philippines at the time the crimes were committed.
Sandoval said the operation against him was conducted in coordination with local intelligence units and that during the implementation of the operation, agents also discovered five other Chinese nationals allegedly engaged in illegal activities. They were caught in the act of manning computer workstations believed to be used for telecom fraud.
They were identified as Song Genyuan, Wu Xinxu, Wen Jing, Xu Yongcheng and Lin Jinyang.
During a follow-up operation later that day, agents arrested another high-ranking syndicate member, Lu Bingbing, at a casino in Angeles City. Lu, 25, failed to present her passport or any valid immigration document at the time of arrest.
She said all suspects are currently undergoing booking and documentation and will be turned over to the BI Warden Facility in preparation for deportation proceedings.
