A total of 128 foreign fugitives wanted in their countries for various crimes had been arrested by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in 2023.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the fugitive were arrested by the bureau's Fugitive Search Unit (BI-FSU) during operations in various areas in the country where these aliens have been hiding or have stayed since arriving in the Philippines.
Among those arrested included 39 South Koreans, 25 Chinese nationals, 15 Vietnamese, 12 Taiwanese, 11 Americans, and eight Japanese, Tansingco said.
He assured that the foreign fugitives have been placed in the BI's blacklist and barred from returning to the Philippines.
“Nearly all of the captured fugitives were already deported and are already serving time in prison in their respective countries after being convicted of the crimes they allegedly committed," the BI said.
Among the crimes committed were investment scams, illegal gambling, money laundering, telecommunications fraud, robbery, and smuggling.
“A notable arrest was that of Manpreet Singh and his cohorts who were tagged as members of an extremist group known as the Khalistan Tiger Force in India,” it said.
“Also arrested in 2023 was Risa Yamada, Fujita Kairi, and Sato Shohei who were located in January, March, and April for their affiliation with the infamous ‘Luffy’ syndicate,” it added.
Tansingco said: “Our country is off limits to these foreign fugitives."
“They are not welcome here and there will be no letup in our campaign to hunt and deport them so they could be tried for the criminal cases that were filed against them,” he stressed.