Authorities arrested two Cameroonian nationals in an entrapment operation here on 20 November 2025.
According to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the NBI Pampanga District Office, 301st Counterintelligence Squadron, 301st Special Mission Group, and the 300th Air Intelligence Security Wing of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), in coordination with the Clark Development Corporation–Public Safety Division (CDC-PSD), arrested Vitalys Awa Njinwa, also known as Johnson Brown, and Pensiga Derick Sama, also known as Stephane Andre Obame.
The two suspects were arrested for robbery (extortion) and swindling (estafa).
A report stated that the NBI Pampanga District Office received a complaint from a Korean national who claimed that the suspects defrauded him of 731,750 USDT (cryptocurrency), equivalent to approximately ₱42,441,500, in connection with a purported gold transport operation from Nairobi, Kenya, to Incheon, South Korea.
The alleged fees supposedly covered customs processing, cargo insurance, warehouse charges, and other fabricated expenses.
Investigators said the suspects provided fraudulent documents—including falsified landing permits and air waybills—along with videos and photographs of supposed gold bars, to convince the complainant that the gold had been shipped and was being held by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) at the Port of Clark.
The complainant was later told to pay an additional 1,000,000 USDT (around P58,000,000), purportedly as a bribe for the BOC Chief in Clark, or the gold would not be released. Realizing he had been defrauded, the Korean national sought assistance from the NBI, prompting the entrapment operation.
During an arranged meetup at a café inside a hotel in Clark, the suspects attempted to collect the demanded 1,000,000 USDT, consisting of USD 25,000 in cash and the remaining balance stored in a cryptocurrency cold-storage ledger. They were immediately arrested.
The BOC Port of Clark later certified that the airway bill used by the suspects as proof of shipment was not registered in the Bureau of Customs’ Electronic-to-Mobile (E2M) system and had no record of arrival at the Port of Clark International Airport.
The suspects were presented for inquest proceedings before the Office of the City Prosecutor of Mabalacat, Pampanga.