BI to deport US, Korean fugitives

By Ferdinand Patinio/ PNA

MANILA — Two foreign fugitives – an American and a Korean – are set to be deported after they were arrested by the fugitive search unit (FSU) operatives of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in Metro Manila and Quezon province last week.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the American, Adrian Dean Eddings II, 44, an alleged rapist, was arrested last Wednesday in Lucena City while the 48-Year-old Korean Lee Yun Sung, a wanted drug trafficker, was apprehended on February 14 in Caloocan City.

The American is wanted to stand trial before a court in Pawnee County, Oklahoma where he was charged with first degree rape.

“He (Eddings) is about to become an undocumented alien as the US embassy said it is in the process of revoking his US passport. He will also be deported for being an undesirable alien,” Morente said in a statement.

Eddings fled to the Philippines only last January 22, a few days after the Oklahoma court issued the warrant for his arrest.

On the other hand, Lee is the subject of arrest warrants issued by three different courts in Korea where he was charged with violating his country’s narcotics control act for alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking and drug smuggling.

“His name is on the Interpol’s red notice list of international drug traffickers. He should be deported immediately as his continued presence here poses a serious threat to public safety,” Morente added.

Citing information they got from the Korean embassy, BI-FSU chief Bobby Raquepo said the foreigner allegedly smuggled several kilos of illegal drugs via air freight into Korea from the Philippines.

He added that Lee is an undocumented alien because his Korean passport already expired in June 2007.

Lee had hidden in the Philippines for more than 11 years and he has been on the BI’s wanted list since April last year when he was issued a summary deportation order by the bureau’s board of commissioners.

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