SoKor fugitive nabbed at NAIA

State agents assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport have arrested a South Korean fugitive wanted for telecom fraud.

Immigration port division chief Grifton Medina identified the foreigner as 31-year-old Jang Minki who was intercepted at the NAIA Terminal 3 departure area last Feb. 13 while he was about to board a flight to Osaka, Japan.

Medina said Jang was barred from leaving after the immigration officer who processed him saw that his name is on the Interpol’s list of foreigners who are in possession of invalidated travel documents.

“His passport was revoked by the Korean government in November last year after authorities learned that he fled his country to avoid prosecution for his crime,” Medina said, adding that the Korean is now detained at the BI detention facility in Bicutan, Taguig pending deportation proceedings.

Citing information received from Korean authorities, Medina disclosed that Jang has a standing arrest warrant on charges of engaging in voice phishing operations that victimized many of his compatriots.

Described as a form of telecom fraud, voice phishing uses the telephone system to gain access to a person’s private personal and financial information. It is usually used by fraudsters to steal credit card numbers or other information used in identity theft schemes from individuals.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente commended his men for the Korean’s arrest, saying the latest accomplishment was another testament to the success of the BI’s joint project with the Interpol and other law enforcement agencies abroad in the effort to catch wanted criminals.

Morente observed that as a result of the electronic linkage between BI’s border control system and the Interpol database, immigration officers at the airports already arrested or turned back many foreigners who have criminal and derogatory records.