MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday said it has deported nine Japanese nationals who are wanted by authorities in their country for telecommunication fraud.
In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente identified the Japanese nationals as Irie Dai, Ishii Kyogo, Hamaoka Kantaro, Maeyama Takuto, Tanaka Kazuya, Yoshida Takeshi, Murata Seiichi, Kouki Shouji, and Imizumi Ryo.
They were flown to Narita Airport in Tokyo around 9:40 a.m. aboard a Japan Airlines flight from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1.
Morente said they are the first batch of deportees among the 36 Japanese nationals who were arrested by the bureau’s fugitive search unit (FSU) in Makati City last November 13, 2019.
The BI-FSU operatives captured the foreigners in the act of operating several work stations they allegedly used to conduct voice phishing operations.
Japanese authorities earlier said that the arrested individuals are members of an organized crime group that engaged in voice phishing and telecom fraud that victimized many of their compatriots in Japan.
Authorities further alleged that combined losses incurred by the suspects’ victims already amounted to more than 2 billion yen or more than US$18 million.
Morente said the BI Board of Commissioners issued a summary deportation order against the group. They were also included in the bureau’s blacklist of undesirable aliens to prevent them from re-entering the Philippines.
The remaining arrested Japanese nationals are still detained at the BI detention facility in Taguig pending the finalization of their deportation schedule.
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