THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) arrested 241 aliens in 2021, among them 83 fugitives wanted in their home countries for various offenses including cyber crime, murder and leading the mafia.
In a statement, the BI said the 83 foreign fugitives arrested were more than the 55 arrested in 2020.
Most of the fugitives arrested were South Koreans, 55 fugitives; followed by Americans, 8; Chinese, 7; Japanese, 3; and Taiwanese, 3.
Among the big fish caught were South Korean nationals Lee Honhee and Seo Jungnam, arrested in January 2021 for attempted murder, and for leading an online prostitution ring, respectively.
South Koreans Jung Myunghun, Yu Daewoong, and Kang Wesung were also nabbed in April, for leading a big-time online scam while Lee Jaehun was collared in December for reportedly heading an illegal online gambling mafia.
Other notable arrests included those of Italian national Ivaldi Antonello, for rape; Japanese national Fujita Toshiya, for alleged involvement in telecommunications fraud; and Taiwanese Huang Kuan-I, who had been wanted for attempted murder for 17 years.
As for the 158 aliens arrested simply for violating Philippine immigration laws, the BI said most were Chinese, 86 arrests; followed by Koreans, 37 arrests; and Nigerians, 10 arrests.
The rest were Indians, 6; Americans, 4; British nationals, 4; Japanese, 3; Indonesians, 2; a Dutch, a German, a Tunisian, a Cambodian, a Lebanese, and a Singaporean.
The 158 arrests were fewer than the 510 arrests made in 2020 as a result of travel restrictions for arriving foreigners imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease.
“Since only those with valid and existing long-term visas are allowed entry in the country, we saw a major decrease in the number of foreign nationals in the Philippines,” said BI Commissioner Jaime Morente in a separate statement.
“Apart from that, many of those who were already in the country were repatriated back to their homelands,” he added.