Bureau of Immigration (BI) operatives arrested an Israeli fugitive wanted for more than 200 fraud cases through a multi-million-euro investment scam, earning him a whopping 6.3 million euros or equivalent to P370.73 million.
Nabbed was Kfir Levy, 43, who is now in the BI’s custody following his arrest along Diosdado Macapagal Avenue, Pasay City by operatives from the bureau’s fugitive search unit (FSU).
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente issued a mission order for Levy’s arrest at the request of German authorities which informed the BI about the fugitive’s crimes.
“Two weeks ago, we received information from German authorities about the charges against him. Now that we have him in custody, we will proceed with the deportation proceedings so he may be deported and blacklisted from the country for being an undesirable alien,” the BI chief added.
Morente described the Israeli as a high-profile fugitive who is a subject of two arrest warrants issued by German courts in February last year due to his involvement in the activities of a fraud syndicate that preyed on hundreds of unsuspecting victims between 2016 and 2019.
The first warrant was issued on Feb. 13, 2020, by the Bamberg district court in Bavaria while the second one, which is a European arrest warrant, was issued four days later by a local court, also in Bamberg.
BI-FSU acting chief Rendel Ryan Sy disclosed that Levy is already an overstaying alien as he has not left the country since he arrived as a tourist on Jan. 30 last year.
Sy said the Israeli, who faces 10-year imprisonment if convicted, is accused of being a member of a criminal syndicate that operated trading platforms on the Internet and committed large-scale fraud by persuading customers, through telephone calls and e-mails, to invest large sums of money with a false promise of high profit returns.
Levy is presently detained at the BI warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending his deportation.
