Two Taiwanese, one of them wanted in his country on human trafficking charges, were arrested in their Makati City residence where firearms, ammunition and illegal drugs were also seized during the operation, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Thursday, Jan. 25.
The BI identified those arrested as Yuan Bo-Chun, 29, and Lin Jyun-Ze, 22, who were apprended last Monday, Jan. 22, by operatives of the BI’s Fugitive Search Unit (BI-FSU) in coordination with the Taiwanese authorities and the Regional Special Operations Group-Regional Intelligence Division (RSOG-RID) National Capital Region (NCR).
It said Yuan's arrest was ordered by Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco on request by the Taiwanese government through its the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Manila.
“Incidentally, in the course of the operation, the FSU operatives encountered inside Yuan’s residence a 22-year-old Taiwanese named Lin Jyun-Ze who was caught in flagrante or in the act of engaging in telecommunications fraud and possessing several high-powered firearms and illegal drugs,” the BI said in a statement.
“The FSU and RSOG-RID NCR also found several units of SMS modems, hundreds of active sim cards registered to different identities, ammunition and high-powered firearms, and a large stash of high-grade marijuana,” it said.
Yuan, the BI said, has an an arrest warrant issued by Taiwan Taipei district prosecutor’s office last November 2023 concerning allegations over his involvement in human trafficking.
It said Yuan arrived in the Philippines on Sept. 15, 2019 and did not depart since then.
Yuan is now detained at the BI’s Warden Facility in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City pending his deportion, while Lin was turned over to the National Capital Region Police Office in Camp Bagong Diwa pending the filing of the appropriate criminal cases against him, it also said.