By Ella Dionisio

A Japanese who allegedly wanted for telecommunication fraud was arrested in Mabini, Batangas last February 6.

Major Jan Albert Rongavilla, acting chief of the Mabini Municipal Police Station , said Fujita Toshiya was arrested in a checkpoint in Barangay Anilao around 3:30am.

Rongavilla said Toshiya was among the other riders who were caught after they failed to show documents for the big sports motorbike they were riding.

He added the suspects’ motorcycles have no plate and registration. The riders also have no driver’s license.

“Through the help of Bureau of Immigration- Fugitive Search Unit (BI- FSU), we found out that one of the drivers that we arrested is a fugitive from Japan for telecommunication fraud,” the police chief said.

Rongavilla said the FSU immediately arrested Toshiya on February 7 following a communication received from the Embassy of Japan in Manila.

“He has victimized over 1, 300 people and he already acquired more than one or two billion yen (from the illegal activity) within half a year,” he said.

He said the suspect was a senior member of an organized fraud group in the Philippines targetting random unacquainted persons in Japan over the phone.

Rongavilla said the Bureau of Immigration has placed Toshiya in a blacklist and will be banned from re-entering the Philippines.

Toshiya is under the custody of Batangas Provincial Intelligence Unit (PIU) while awaiting the result of his RT-PCR test before he will be deported.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD) has filed charges against the suspect in Japan. DMS