Thursday, January 08, 2009 American fugitive to be deported
A DEPORTATION order is being readied against a former American air force serviceman, wanted by US federal authorities for pilfering P40 million worth of oil supplies inside a military base in Iraq, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Wednesday.
Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan identified the fugitive as Robert John Jeffery, 55, who was arrested last November 19 inside a bar along Friendship Highway in Barangay Anunas, Angeles City, Pampanga.
A mission order was issued for the foreigner’s arrest on the request of the US Embassy in Manila, which sought the help of the BI in locating and apprehending the fugitive.
“He will be deported as soon as the BI board of commissioners issues the order for his summary deportation,” Libanan said. Jeffery will also be placed in the immigration blacklist to prevent him from re-entering the Philippines.
A team of US marshals would fetch Jeffery in Manila and escort him back to the US where he is wanted to stand trial before a district court in Eastern Virginia which issued a warrant for his arrest on August 8 last year.
The impending deportation of the American stemmed from being an undesirable and undocumented alien, after the US State Department had canceled passport of Jeffery.
Jeffery conspired with other suspects in conducting a systematic pilferage of petroleum and oil products inside a US military base in Iraq in 2007.
BI records showed that Jeffery arrived in Manila on April 27 last year and was admitted as a tourist for 21 days. (FP/Sunnex)
