BI agents nab Taiwanese man wanted for fraud

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported the arrest of a Taiwanese man wanted by authorities in Taipei for fraud.

In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the fugitive as 26-year-old Che Szu-Han, who was arrested last May 31 at the Clark freeport in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

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Tansingco said operatives from the BI’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) arrested Che on the strength of a mission order, which he issued upon request of the Taiwanese authorities.

“He will be deported after our Board of Commissioners issue the order for his summary deportation. He will be placed in our blacklist and banned from re-entering the Philippines,” the BI Chief added.

BI-FSU Acting Chief Rendel Ryan Sy said a warrant for Che’s arrest was issued against Chen in July last year by the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office.

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Taiwanese authorities have accused Che of being a member of a criminal syndicate, that siphons money collected from fraud victims which are deposited in bogus bank accounts.

Sy said Che is also an undocumented alien as his passport was already cancelled by the Taiwanese government.

He is currently detained at the BI Warden Facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending deportation proceedings.

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BI: Trafficking victims made to pose as seafarers, to work in call centers in Laos 

Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Clark International Airport (CIA) in Pampanga have rescued two women, suspected of being trafficking victims, who attempted to leave the country by disguising themselves as seafarers.

In a report to Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the BI’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) said the passengers were intercepted last May 24, as they were about to board a Cebu Pacific flight to Bangkok.

The women initially claimed they were sea-based overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) recruited to work in Thailand, and presented spurious documents to mislead immigration officers.

They, however, eventually confessed that their final destination is Laos where they were hired to work as call center agents.

The BI earlier reported the increase in number of Filipinos trafficked to Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, where they were recruited as call center agents, only to end up working for scamming companies.

“The modus operandi here is for the victims to initially fly to Thailand where they would then board their connecting flight to Laos,” Tansingco noted.

The victims, when interviewed, narrated that they were recruited to work in Laos via an advertisement they saw on social media.

They said they each paid Php 40,000 to their handlers in exchange for processing their bogus travel documents.

Both were referred to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for assistance and filing of cases against their recruiters.

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