A South Korean fugitive, who is wanted in his country for telecommunications fraud, has been arrested in Mabalacat City in Pampanga, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Thursday, Oct. 5.

The BI identified the Korean fugitive as Kang Hee Woo who was arrested by operatives of the bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU).

“This serves as a warning to other foreign fugitives hiding in the Philippines because the long arm of the law will eventually catch you wherever you may be,” declared BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco.  

“It took almost five years of intensive manhunt and surveillance operations before we were able to arrest him,” Tansingco noted. 

Kang already has a deportation order that was issued by the BI in 2018 after the bureau received information from South Korean authorities about his crimes, he said.

Also, Tansingco said Kang is a subject of a red notice issued in 2021 by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

“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 frauds,” the BI said. 

“Kang was accused of being a ranking member of the Youngjae-Han telecoms fraud syndicate which is believed to have defrauded victims of more than one billion won, or roughly US$740,000,” it cited.

 It said that the syndicate "employs voice phishing operations through random calls to its victims in Korea.”

Kang, who is now blacklisted and banned from returning to the Philippines, is currently detained at the BI’s Warden Facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending his deportation.