The arrest was spearheaded by agents of the Bureau of Immigration Philippines.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced the arrest of a South Korean fugitive wanted by authorities in Seoul, for involvement in a multi-million telecommunications fraud case.

In a report to Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the BI’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) identified the fugitive as 33-year-old Lee Won Ho, who was arrested last September 21, 2022 at his residence in BF Tahanan Village, Parañaque City.

The FSU operatives who arrested Lee were armed with a warrant of deportation issued, pursuant to a summary deportation order that the Bureau’s Board of Commissioners issued against the Korean four years ago.

Tansingco said Lee will be deported immediately, and that the latter was already placed in the immigration blacklist to prevent him from re-entering the country.

“He is an undesirable alien whose presence here poses a serious risk to public interest,” Tansingco said. “Thus, he should be perpetually barred from entering the Philippines.”

According to BI-FSU Acting Chief Rendell Ryan Sy, the Korean was issued an arrest warrant by the Incheon District Court in Seoul, South Korea where he was incited for fraud, and that the latter’s passport was already revoked.

Lee was tagged as a high-ranking member of the so-called Minju Family, a big-time telecom fraud syndicate allegedly operating in Manila.

Sy said the syndicate is suspected of having defrauded over US$21 million from their Korean victims based overseas.

Lee is now detained at the BI Warden Facility at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig pending his deportation to South Korea.