Philippines to deport 'Bruce Lee'

MANILA, Philippines - Immigration authorities are set to deport a namesake of the late martial arts icon Bruce Lee for being an undocumented and undesirable alien.

Bureau of Immigration officer-in-charge Siegfred Mison said the agency has already issued a deportation order against South Korean Beong Koo Lee, who also goes by the name of Bruce Lee.

On Thursday, authorities nabbed Koo Lee in a restaurant in Ermita, Manila.

The suspect was tagged in an Interpol report as a a convict in South Korea for various offenses.

Mison said Lee is also the subject of a red notice from the Interpol due to an arrest warrant that was issued against him by a Korean court two years ago.

He said that Lee arrived in Manila on June 21 last year and had been illegally staying in the country since.

Mison said that according to records, Koo Lee was ordered arrested by a district court in Jeonju, South Korea on May 16, 2011. He was charged for robbing a compatriot of nearly half a million dollars and for inflicting serious physical injuries on the victim.

"We will deport him as his continued stay here poses a serious threat to public safety and order," the Immigration official said.