By Jaspearl Tan

Following the arrest of four Japanese fugitives last Tiuesday in Paranaque City and Pasay City, four more Japanese suspects linked to the telecom fraud group were suspected of being in Cebu, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said.

The NCRPO said eight Japanese nationals were covered by the Immigration deportation order but the other four suspects were not present during their operations in the two cities.

One of the suspects was confirmed to be in Cebu.

In an interview with the Daily Manila Shimbun, NCRPO Regional Director Maj. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez said: “Maybe they are all in Cebu and we are continuously in coordination with Immigration to arrest them. Four of them.”

He also said all four suspects, as well as another Japanese national who was not apprehended, were all Information Technology (IT) professionals.

Nartatez said the other Japanese could not be arrested because “he is not covered with derogatory or Bureau of Immigration deportation case”.

Based on information received by the NCRPO from the BI, the Japanese who was not arrested was frequently traveling from Cambodia to the Philippines.

“He is not going home to Japan. That means maybe they are committing fraud also in Japan,” Nartatez said.

Naratatez said the Japanese fugitives may have escaped to the Philippines since they could not return to Cambodia.

“We suspect that since they have warrants of arrest and are subject for Immigration because of telecom fraud and other fraud, maybe they could not go back there. And maybe they are committing fraud again here in the Philippines,” he said.

Nartatez said that there are no charges against them but they are still investigating for possible cases they have in the country.

Four Japanese men were caught in separate operations on Tuesday are now detained in the BI’s warden facility.

DMS