BI nabs 6 Chinese fugitives wanted for economic crimes

September 4, 2019

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced the arrest of six high-profile fugitives from China who are wanted by Beijing authorities for economic crimes and defrauding many compatriots of multi-billion dollar online lottery gaming scam.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said the aliens who included three men and three women, were arrested last Aug. 30 in an operation conducted by members of the Bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) in the cities of Makati and Pasay.

Five were arrested inside a condominium at the Circuit Shopping Complex in Carmona, Makati while the other one was collared outside Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as he was about to leave. 

Those arrested were identified as Wang Yaru, Yu Ming Wei, Wei Chunxue, Li Zhi Cheng, Lin Huzi, and Zhou Zhongyi. They are detained at the BI Jail in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending deportation proceedings.

“They will be deported for being undesirable aliens and for being undocumented. Their passports were all revoked by the Chinese government. Afterwards, they will be blacklisted and banned from re-entering the Philippines,” he said.

According to Morente, the operation was a joint effort of the BI and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) whose assistance in locating the fugitives was also sought by the Chinese government.

“We will continue to strengthen our partnership with our counterparts abroad in going after foreign fugitives who hide in our country to evade prosecution and punishment for their crimes.” He added.

BI intelligence officer and FSU Chief Bobby Raquepo said the aliens conspired to defraud their victims of money, allegedly amounting to more than seven billion renminbi or nearly $100 million, by operating a fraudulent mobile application called “Fast 3 Lottery” via the Internet.

Raquepo said hundreds of Chinese nationals were victimized by the fraudulent scam as they were enticed to bet their money which the suspects diverted to their own pockets.

Raquepo said except for one of the aliens who came in last year, the five other suspects arrived in the country only recently as tourists. DMS