Money launderers apprehended

The Bureau of Immigration Intelligence Division (BIID) disclosed on Monday that several foreign individuals were recently arrested in separate operations for being undocumented, engaging in deception and being undesirable.

Reports said that on 20 February, the BIID operatives served the mission order against the 35-year-old Chinese national Li Jiafu at a commercial building in Bacoor, Cavite.

Authorities said that the arrested Chinese national who uses the alias Li Charlie Sevilla was found to be carrying Philippine documents, including a birth certificate and passport.

BI Commissioner Atty. Joel Anthony Viado explained that the documents discovered in his possession allowed him to misrepresent himself as a Filipino citizen.

Agents noticed an inconsistency in his documents: he held both a Chinese passport indicating his birthplace as Liaoning China, and a Philippine passport indicating his birthplace as Quezon City.

Viado added that the illegal acquisition of Philippine documents by foreign nationals poses a significant threat to national security.

Along with Li, three other Chinese nationals with working visas were also apprehended by the BI after it was discovered that they were employed by a different company than the one that had applied for their visas.

Meantime, the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Office of the Special Envoy on Transnational Crime, and BIID agents conducted separate operations on the same day, resulting in the arrest of a Malaysian national, Gwee Seng Yong, at a condominium in Makati City.

Gwee was identified as an undocumented foreign national by BI operatives, who also made an effort to establish his identification and travel documentation. But because he was unable to produce a passport or any other legitimate identification, he was arrested.