MANILA: The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday said it would deport a South Korean national wanted in his homeland for involvement in telecommunications fraud.

In a statement, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said operatives of the agency’s fugitive search unit arrested 41-year-old Kwon Hyuckkeun inside his residence along E. Rodriguez St., Quezon City on May 2.

Kwon has a standing warrant of deportation after the BI board of commissioners ordered his deportation for being a fugitive from justice and an undesirable alien.

‘He will thus be deported as soon as we have secured the necessary clearances for his departure. His name was already included in our blacklist, hence he is barred from re-entering the Philippines,’ Tansingco added.

Kwon was also found to be overstaying as he last arrived in the Philippines on Nov. 26, 2018 or more than five years ago.

The suspect is wanted by the Seobu Branch of the Daegu District Court in South Korea since April 2019 on fraud charges.

Kwon and his cohorts allegedly
conspired to operate a syndicate that employed voice phishing in defrauding many of their compatriots who were falsely offered low interest on loans in exchange for giving the personal information on their credit cards.

The syndicate allegedly earned profits of more than 12 million won (nearly US$9,000) from their racket.

The suspect is now detained at the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.

Source: Philippines News Agency