THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) said its officers at the Clark International Airport (CIA) in Pampanga arrested a South Korean national wanted by authorities in his country for drug trafficking.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the passenger as Choi Minjae, 33, who was intercepted June 17 before he could board a Jeju Air flight to Incheon in Seoul, South Korea.
Choi, according to Tansingco, has been on the wanted list of the BI since February this year when he was ordered deported by the bureau for being an undesirable alien.
He was stopped from leaving after the BI officer who processed him saw that the passenger’s name prompted a positive hit in the bureau’s derogatory check system indicating that he was blacklisted as a result of the deportation order against him.
It was also found that he is subject of an Interpol red notice that was issued last Feb. 2 which stemmed from the filing of a narcotics case against him.
A warrant for his arrest was reportedly issued by the Ulsan district court in southeastern Korea where he was indicted for violating his country’s narcotics control act.
Authorities alleged that between April 2022 to June 2023 Choi and an accomplice sold over the Internet over US$3.27 million worth of drugs, including synthetic marijuana and LSD, the sales of which were transacted 539 times via the messaging app Telegram.
Choi was later committed to the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, where he will remain while awaiting deportation.
“He is perpetually barred from re-entering the country as a consequence of his inclusion in our immigration blacklist,” Tansingco said.
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