MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Friday, November 22, said it was able to apprehend two foreigners who are on the Interpol’s list of wanted fugitives at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The first foreigner was Korean national Li Su Bin, who was on his way back to his home country. Bin is wanted in Seoul for his alleged involvement in an investment scam based in Laos. The scam targeted victims seeking to invest in cryptocurrency and stocks.
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The BI allowed Bin to board the flight and head back to Seoul after the agency informed local authorities of the alien’s identification.
South Korean officials apprehended Bin when he got to the Incheon airport.
The second fugitive was a Chinese national, identified as Yao Bin, who was headed to Malaysia. He was offloaded from his plane bound for Malaysia and detained at the BI warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, where he awaits deportation proceedings.
Yao is wanted for being a member of a cybercrime syndicate that operates gambling websites.
He was the promotions and customer service manager in the operations.
“The said websites allegedly solicited more than 260,000 Chinese customers who gambled on the results of international sports competitions and whose combined bets amounted to more than 2 billion yuan, or more than US$276 million,” the BI said in its statement.
Fake document also intercepted
In a separate statement, the BI said it also intercepted a female trafficking victim headed towards Japan.
The woman, 20, whose name was withheld for security purposes, had a fake Commission on Filipino Overseas (CFO) certificate.
She tried to board a flight going to Nagoya, Japan to visit her alleged Japanese husband. However, BI authorities noted that there were discrepancies in the CFO.
The BI’s system found the CFO number did not exist.
“Our officers swiftly initiated a check using the BI-CFO joint system, which enabled real-time verification of the authenticity of her documents,” Immigration Commissioner Joel Viado said.
BI officials also found out that the woman purchased the fake CFO from an online fixer for the amount of P3,000.
The woman is now with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for further investigation and the filing of cases against the persons who made the fake CFO.