THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) has arrested a South Korean national wanted by the Interpol for allegedly operating an illegal online gambling syndicate from the Philippines.
Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony M. Viado on Thursday said the 52-year-old fugitive was arrested on Tuesday at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 by the bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit with assistance from South Korean authorities, the Philippine National Police-Interpol Group and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.
The suspect is wanted under an arrest warrant issued by the Busan District Court for allegedly operating an illegal betting website from Makati City beginning in January 2024.
The BI said immigration records showed he entered the Philippines in 2019 using a Cambodian passport under another identity before biometric verification confirmed his true identity.
He has been transferred to the bureau’s detention facility pending deportation proceedings. — Mark Joseph M. Sanchez
