By Robina Asido

Another Japanese suspect in a telecom fraud syndicate from Cambodia was arrested in Manila on Thursday, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Saturday.

BI Fugitive Search Unit Chief Rendel Sy identified the suspect as Yokota Tetsuya, 39, who was arrested along Ongpin St. in Sta. Cruz for fraud in violation of Article 60 and 246 (1) of the Japanese Penal Code.

In a message to the Daily Manila Shimbun, Sy said the suspect is "an undesirable alien and poses risk to public safety and security being a fugitive from justice as per official communication received by this unit from Consul Nisihimura Haruka of the Embassy of Japan in Manila."

Sy said based on BI data base the suspect has an active derogatory record and on a watchlist order for undesirability for being a fugitive from justice

In a television interview, Sy said the suspect was among the fugitives that they have been monitoring since last year.

"We have been monitoring this group for a long time. Actually we already arrested the other members last year," he said.

"Based on the report of Japan Interpol, this group is targeting senior citizens in Japan. They are claiming that there is a need to pay the police and they deploy their member to the house of the senior citizen to ask for a huge amount of money," he added.

Rendel said the modus of this group is similar to the "Luffy" robbery group whose members were already deported to Japan in previous years.

"It's very important that we arrest and stop them from staying here because there is a possibility that they might also operate here locally and recruit Filipino actors to also scam Filipino citizens," he said.

In a previous interview with the Daily Manila Shimbun, Sy said there are 10 members of the Japanese telecom scam syndicate who escaped from Cambodia and hid in the Philippines weeks before four of its other members were arrested in Pasay City and Paranaque City last July.

Another member of the syndicate identified as Sasaki Yohei who was arrested in Quezon City in October last year was deported in December 2024 while the four members who were arrested in July of previous year, identified as Sawada Masaya, Suzuki Seiji, Koji Ueda, and Jun Kiyohara, were deported in November of the same year. DMS