The Bureau of Immigration said it has deferred the deportation of arrested Korean fugitive Noh Jun Ho following intelligence reports that the wanted foreigner is one of the major supplier of illegal drugs in his country and Koreans living in the Philippines.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said he will ask the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to temporarily take custody of Ho, so he could be investigated and, if warranted, charged with violating the anti-drug law.
Morente cited intelligence reports gathered by the BI’s fugitive search unit that Ho was into selling illegal drugs to his compatriots in the Philippines before his arrest last Tuesday in Angeles City, Pampanga.
Morente also said that according to reliable information, a case for violating the dangerous drugs act was filed against Ho before the Angeles City regional trial court.
“We want the PDEA to investigate if he was really involved in illegal drugs,” the BI chief said, adding that the bureau will surely run after other Koreans or foreigners who might be pinpointed as his accomplices or cohorts in his criminal activities.
“Should we find that said reports about him are not true, then that’s the time we will deport him to Korea so he could be prosecuted and sentenced for crimes he committed in his country,” Morente said.
BI-FSU operatives led by immigration intelligence officer Bobby Raquepo arrested the Korean during an operation in Brgy. Cuayan, Angeles City, Pampanga.
BI chief personnel officer and acting spokesman Grifton Medina said Ho’s arrest was sought by the Korean embassy in Manila which informed the BI that the Korean fugitive is wanted for violating his country’s narcotics control act.
Medina added that Ho is an undocumented alien because the Korean government had already canceled his passport.
It was learned that Ho hid in the Philippines for almost a year prior his arrest as a check of his travel records showed that he last arrived here on October 16, 2016.
He is presently detained at the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending issuance of the order for his summary deportation by the Bureau’s Board of Commissioners.