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The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said its intelligence operatives arrested last year 510 foreigners for allegedly violating Philippine immigration laws.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said the errant foreigners were arrested in various enforcement operations conducted by agents from the BI’s intelligence division in various places of the country.

Morente said the bulk of those arrested are Chinese nationals who were rounded up after being caught in the act of engaging in illegal online gaming and cybercrime activities.

The BI chief, however, bared that the number of illegal aliens arrested last year significantly lower from the more than 2,000 foreigners apprehended by BI agents in 2019.

“Because of the pandemic and community quarantines imposed, there was a decrease in the movement of aliens," said Morente. "A lot of foreign nationals also joined repatriation flights back to their home countries," he added.

According to BI intelligence chief Fortunato Manahan Jr., among those arrested were 332 Chinese nationals arrested in Tarlac last December for illegally working in the country and involvement in cybercrimes.

Manahan also cited the arrest of 14 Indian nationals in General Santos City on Feb. 4 and 30 of their compatriots in Quezon City last March, also for allegedly overstaying and being improperly documented.

Arrested in two operations on February and March last year, Manahan added, were 14 South Korean and 2 Vietnamese who were caught without permits and engaging in unauthorized business activities.

It was learned that BI agents also assisted military intelligence operatives in catching suspected foreign terrorists in Mindanao, including the Indonesian wife of a suicide bomber who was arrested in Jolo, Sulu last October who was charged by the BI for undesirability and being an illegal entrant. DMS