BUREAU of Immigration (BI) officers have intercepted a Chinese fugitive wanted by the Interpol and the authorities in Beijing for illegally operating online gaming, allegedly amassing roughly $70 million in illegal internet operations.
The Chinese national, identified as Anrui Wang, was intercepted at the Immigration departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 before he could board a Philippine Airlines flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said Wang was denied departure after an agent who processed him saw that his name prompted a positive hit in the bureau’s derogatory alert system, indicating that the passenger was subject of an Interpol red notice for being a fugitive from justice.
Wang was arrested by the BI supervisors on duty and turned over to personnel of the bureau’s border control and intelligence unit.
According to BI the Interpol published its red notice on Wang in February 2022, barely two months after a warrant for his arrest was issued by the public security bureau in Feixi County in Hefei City, China.
A check of his travel record revealed that he had been overstaying in the Philippines for more than two years, having arrived here in 2022 and has not departed since.
Wang was charged with running an illegal gambling den, an offense which carries a penalty of eight years imprisonment under China’s criminal law.
Chinese authorities asserted that between January 2019 to September 2021, Wang and his accomplices established and operated gambling platforms in the Internet which catered to Chinese customers.
The suspects advertised the gambling platforms online, enabling them to attract a large number of customers from whom they earned profits estimated at more than 78 million yuan, or roughly $10.7 million.