PH immigration operatives arrest 2 foreign fugitives

INQUIRER file photo / ALEXIS CORPUZ

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Sunday reported the arrest of two foreign fugitives in separate operations in Quezon City and Taguig City.

Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said the BI fugitive search unit arrested a German woman national, who is wanted in her country for sex crimes, on Nov. 8 along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City.

Viado identified the German fugitive as Evangeline Schmidt, 48.

She was arrested on the strength of a mission order from Viado who issued the same at the request of the German government.

German authorities sought assistance in locating and deporting her so she could be tried for her crimes in Germany.

Viado described Schmidt as an undesirable alien and a high-profile criminal suspect due to her direct involvement in the sexual abuse and maltreatment of children at the hands of her German spouse.

“Reports state that she allegedly tolerated the abuse of children so she could continue to receive financial support from her husband and finance her lavish lifestyle,” Viado said in a news release on Sunday.

The woman is currently detained at the BI warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City while undergoing deportation proceedings.

Schmidt is the subject of an Interpol red notice released in 2023 or a year after a warrant for her arrest was issued by a local court in Darmstadt, Germany.

Upon deportation, Scmidt’s name will be included in the BI’s blacklist, effectively barring her re-entry to the country.

Meanwhile, the BI operatives also arrested Kudo Tomoya, a 31-year-old Japanese fugitive wanted for theft and fraud in Tokyo, on Nov. 15 at the BI’s office in the SM Aura mall in Taguig after attempting to apply for an extension of his tourist visa.

BI SM Aura head Evita Mercader said Kudo arrived in the country on Oct. 15. When he presented his passport, it was found out that the Japanese man is the subject of a BI watchlist after being charged as an undesirable alien.

The BI received official communication from Japanese authorities on Nov. 8, informing them of Kudo’s standing warrant of arrest.

The warrant was reportedly issued by the Tokyo Summary Court in August for charges of breaking into a structure, theft, and fraud, in violation of the Japanese Penal Code.

Kudo will remain detained at the BI facility inside Camp Bagong Diwa, pending his deportation.