Two foreign fugitives, who are wanted in their respective countries for alleged fraud and stock investment scam, have been arrested during separate operations conducted by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in Metro Manila.

The BI identified those arrested as South Korean Hwang Seongbin, 34, and Japanese national Sasaki Yohei, 36.

It said the two fugitives were arrested by the BI’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) which implemented the mission orders issued by BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado.

In issuing the mission orders, the BI said that Commissioner Viado acted on the requests of the governments of South Korea and Japan which sought their deportation so they could be tried for the crimes they allegedly committed.

Hwang and Sasaki, who are blacklisted and barred from re-entering the Philippines, are now detained at the BI's warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending deportation proceedings, the BI said. 

It said that “Hwang, who is the subject of an International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) red notice and a warrant of arrest from the Eujeong district court in Korea, is reportedly wanted for his involvement in a stock investment scam he allegedly perpetrated during his stint as president of a financial institution.”

“He was accused of luring his victims to invest in the scam which caused them to incur combined losses of 100 million won, or more than US$75,000,” it said.

In the case of Sasaki, the BI said that "he has an active warrant of arrest issued by the Omiya summary court in Saitama, Japan where he was charged for defrauding an elderly victim in a nursing home where he worked as a staff member.”

"Sasaki allegedly enticed the victim to invest more than 3 million yen in a fake contract-related transaction,” it said. 

It added that “the Japanese man is an alleged member of a Cambodia-based telecom fraud syndicate engaged in kidnapping, illegal detention, extortion, and fraud.”