BI task force formed to hunt down fugitives

The Bureau of Immigration has formed a special task force that will specifically hunt down foreign fugitives in the country.

Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr. said the new team, known as Fugitive Search Unit (FSU), is composed of six of the bureau’s best intelligence agents and will be under the command of BI Intelligence Divison.

"This unit is tasked with locating and apprehending foreign fugitives and it shall coordinate its operations with other law enforcement agencies involved in the manhunt for foreign criminals hiding in our country," Fernandez said in a statement.

The creation of FSU, which will also directly report to Fernandez, was a proposal of BI intelligence chief lawyer Faizal Hussin.

Hussin said the new unit is also expected to help boost the bureau’s link to foreign governments and other law enforcement agencies, including Philippine Center for Transnational Crimes and National Bureau of Investigation.

"We have also been coordinating with different foreign embassies in Manila who have sought our assistance in locating, arresting and deporting fugitives so that the latter could be tried and be held liable for whatever crimes they committed in their homelands," he said.

The FSU is part of the bureau’s intensified drive against foreign fugitives and prevent them from entering the country and escaping justice.

Twenty-four fugitives were arrested by BI intelligence agents last year. Most of them were wanted for child abuse, drug trafficking and large-scale fraud.

Hussin said all of them have already been deported and are now either facing trials or serving sentences in their home countries. They were also placed in the bureau’s blacklist of undesirable aliens, to prevent them from re-entering the Philippines.— Edu Punay