BUREAU of Immigration (BI) agents at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have arrested a South Korean fugitive wanted by authorities in his country for illegal drugs.
In a report to Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the BI’s border control and intelligence unit (BCIU) identified the passenger as Son Hyunbeen, 37, who was arrested last Dec. 15 upon his arrival at the NAIA terminal 1 aboard a Philippine Airlines flight from Bangkok, Thailand.
The BCIU reported that Son was apprehended after the immigration officer who processed his arrival saw that his name prompted a positive hit in the Interpol’s 24-hour global police communications system that is linked to the BI’s database of wanted foreign criminals.
The Korean was later committed to the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City where he will remain until he is deported.
Information provided by the Interpol’s National Central Bureau (NCB) in Manila revealed that Son is subject of an arrest warrant issued on Oct. 23, 2020 by the Suwon district court in South Korea where he was charged with illegally trading psychotropic drugs.
Authorities alleged that Son conspired with three other suspects in illegally importing methamphetamine drugs from Cambodia into Korea from May up to August in 2017.
They allegedly sold the drugs to Korean customers 251 times from which they earned an estimated 157 million won, or more than 6.7 million pesos.
Tansingco lauded Son’s arrest as he described the fugitive as a menace to society due to his involvement in illegal drugs.
“His presence here is inimical to our national, thus he should be deported out for being an undesirable alien,” the BI chief said in a statement. “We will also put him in our blacklist and perpetually banned from re-entering the country.”
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