TWO South Koreans wanted for illegal drugs and telecommunications fraud were recently arrested at a hotel inside Clark Freepost by Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente identified the alien fugitives as 39-year-old Lee Dongju and 40-year-old Sim Kyuchul who were arrested by members of the BI’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU).
Morente said he issued a mission order for the duo’s arrest after receiving information from South Korean authorities in Manila that the suspects are residing in Clark.
“We will deport them for being undesirable and overstaying aliens,” Morente said.
“Their passports were already cancelled by the South Korean government, which also made them undocumented,” he added.
BI-FSU Chief Rendel Ryan Sy said Lee has been hiding in the country since May 2019.
A warrant for his arrest was issued by the Suwon District Court in South Korea in 2021 for illegal trading of psychotropic drugs, in violation of Korea’s Narcotics Control Act.
Lee was reportedly charged for selling methamphetamine to numerous clients in South Korea.
On the other hand, Sim is wanted in South Korea after the Cheongju District Court ordered his arrest in 2017 for fraud.
He has been hiding in the country since 2016 and due to his crimes, his name has been added in the Interpol’s red list on June 2019.
The Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Manila revealed that authorities have tagged Sim as a member of a telephone fraud syndicate based in Qingdao, China that operated from January to September 2015.
Sim and his cohorts allegedly made calls to their victims in South Korea who were duped into giving their debit card numbers to the suspects in exchange for non-existent jobs advertised online by the syndicate.
The syndicate reportedly profited from the operation by as much as 5.3 million won or more than US$4,300.
Lee and Sim will remain at the BI’s Warden Facility in Taguig pending their deportation.