South Korean who escaped BI jail recaptured

MANILA, Philippines — Nine days after escaping from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) detention facility, a South Korean fugitive was recaptured in San Juan City on Monday along with two other South Koreans who allegedly coddled him.

In a statement, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit arrested Kang Juchun, 38, at a condominium unit along N. Domingo street in Barangay Ermitaño.

Lim Kyung Sup, 43, and Kim Mi Kyung, 39, were also arrested for harboring a fugitive.

All three also face drug charges after a kilo of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu valued at P10.2 million was found in their unit.

Intelligence operatives from the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation joined the BI manhunt for Kang, who escaped at around 2 a.m. on May 21 by scaling a 20-foot barbed wire fence and jumping onto a paved road at the BI detention facility at Camp Bagong Diwa.

He reportedly took advantage of a blind spot along the fence that is not covered by the facility’s closed-circuit television system.

“He was limping when our agents arrested him. We suspected that he could have been injured as it was a massive fall on a cemented road,” Tansingco said.

Kang is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Seonsan Branch of the Daejon District Court in February on charges of murder and abandonment of a dead body.

He was initially apprehended in February at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 after arriving from Bangkok, Thailand.

The BI said records show Kim has a pending case in his country and that both he and Lim are overstaying in the Philippines.