BI deports Japanese man wanted for fraud

INQUIRER file photo / ALEXIS CORPUZ

MANILA, Philippines — A Japanese national previously arrested for defrauding an elderly individual was deported to Japan on Monday, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) confirmed.

Sasaki Yohei, 36, was apprehended in Bahay Toro, Quezon City, on October 1.

He had an active arrest warrant from the Omiya Summary Court in Saitama, Japan for allegedly convincing his victim to invest over 3 million yen in a fake contract deal, according to the BI.

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The BI reported that Sasaki boarded a Japan Airlines flight bound for Tokyo on Monday morning.

BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado stated that Sasaki was added to the agency’s blacklist, effectively barring him from re-entering the Philippines.

“His deportation shows our strong stance against illegal aliens attempting to stay in the Philippines to evade arrest in their home countries,” Viado said in a statement.

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Viado further revealed that Sasaki is allegedly a member of a Cambodia-based telecom fraud syndicate involved in kidnapping, illegal detention, extortion, and fraud.

He added that several high-ranking members of the syndicate had already been arrested in previous operations conducted by the BI fugitive search unit (FSU).