The Bureau of Immigration (BI) deported last Friday, Oct. 13, a total of 36 Chinese nationals who were arrested during a raid last Aug. 1 of an offshore gaming firm SA Rivendell Global Gaming Corporation at the SKK Building in Pasay City.
Those arrested were found to be engaged in cryptocurrency scams, the BI had earlier said.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the deportation of the 36 undesirable aliens was done in coordination with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC).
All the deportees, who were not identified, took a Royal Air flight to Nanning City, China, Tansingco said.
The Aug. 1, 2023 raid was a joint operation by the PAOCC, Department of Justice (DOJ), Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the BI.
Tansingco said the arrested foreign nationals were found to be involved in a hub conducting crypto scams. Their names have been included in the BI’s blacklist, he said.
He said that foreign nationals who abuse the country’s hospitality and operate illegal companies in the Philippines are not welcome in the country. “We will not stop until all foreign nationals who conduct scamming activities here in the Philippines are arrested and deported,” he stressed.