LOOK: 10 Japanese fugitives in PH deported


Ten Japanese nationals wanted by authorities in Tokyo for their involvement in a big-time telecommunications fraud have been deported by the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

The 10 Japanese deportees waiting for their flight (Ariel Fernandez/ MANILA BULLETIN)

The deportees boarded a Japan Airlines flight to Narita which left the Ninoy Aquino Interntional Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City shortly after 10 a.m. The group of fugitives were escorted on their flight by Japanese policemen who earlier arrived in Manila to fetch them, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said.

(Ariel Fernandez/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Records show that the deportees were among 34 Japanese nationals arrested on Nov. 13, 2019 by operatives from the BI fugitive search unit (FSU) inside a hotel in Makati City where they were caught in the act of engaging in voice phishing and telephone fraud activities.

Japanese authorities alleged that those arrested were members of an organized crime syndicate that perpetrated a fraudulent scheme that victimized many of their countrymen.

They allegedly defrauded their victims of roughly ¥2 billion, equivalent to about P1 billion.