BI nabs 158 aliens in ’21

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Monday that, in 2021, the Bureau’s intelligence officers arrested a total of 158 aliens for violating Philippine immigration laws.

According to Commissioner Jaime Morente, the illegal aliens were arrested in numerous operations conducteby thd  BI Intelligence Division (BIID) operatives in different areas nationwide.

Morente said statistics show the majority of those arrested are Chinese with 86 arrests; Koreans, 37; Nigerians, 10.

He added that BIID also arrested six Indians, four Americans, four British nationals, three Japanese, two Indonesians, a Dutch, a German, a Tunisian, a Cambodian, a Lebanese and a Singaporean.

The chief also said that the number is lower than the 510 arrested in year 2020 primarily because of the imposition of travel restrictions for arriving foreigners. Since only those with valid and existing long term visas are allowed entry in the country, they saw a major decrease in the number of foreign nationals in the country.

“Apart from that, many of those who were already in the country were repatriated,” he added.

Apart from the 158 arrested by the intelligence division, the BI also earlier reported 83 foreign fugitives arrested by the BI’s fugitive search unit, bringing the total arrested aliens to 241.