Bureau of Immigration (BI) operatives arrested a South Korean national wanted for being a fugitive in his country where he was charged with engaging in telecommunications fraud.
The fugitive, identified as 35-year-old Kang Hee Woo, was arrested in Malabacat City, Pampanga by elements from the BI’s fugitive search unit (FSU).
Kang will be sent back to Seoul immediately as an order for his summary deportation was already issued by the BI board of commissioners in 2018 after South Korean authorities informed the bureau about his crimes.
“It took almost five years of intensive manhunt and surveillance operations before we were able to arrest him. This serves as a warning to other foreign fugitives hiding in the Philippines. The long arm of the law will eventually catch you wherever you may be,” BI chief Norman Tansingco said. Vito Barcelo
Tansingco said that the Korean is also the subject of an Interpol red notice that was issued in 2021.
According to the Interpol’s national central bureau (NCB) in Manila, Kang was issued separate arrest warrants by the Seoul central district court and Seoul Dongbu central district court for alleged involvement in telecom fraud.
Kang was accused of being a ranking member of the Youngjae-Han telecom fraud syndicate which is believed to have defrauded victims of more than one billion won, or roughly US$740,000.
The syndicate allegedly employed voice phishing operations through random calls to its victims in Korea.
The Korean is presently detained at the BI warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City while awaiting deportation. He was placed in the bureau’s blacklist and banned from re-entering the country.