Six South Korean nationals and 15 Filipinos were arrested in a raid on a suspected illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub in a posh hotel in Pasay City at 5:20 pm Monday afternoon.

Teams from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, Bureau of Immigration and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group raided the POGO hub in one of the rooms at the basement of the hotel, PAOCC executive director Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz said in a message on Viber.

Authorities found the foreigners and their Filipino employees at their workstations are engaged in sports betting and cryptocurrency.

The government ordered POGOs closed on December 31, 2024 after finding them involved in criminal activities.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has deported 26 more illegal aliens involved in illicit POGO activities.

The deportees were part of the 450 foreigners apprehended in January for violating Philippine immigration laws, particularly those linked to illegal POGO-related scams.

The 26 deportees were made up of 23 Chinese nationals and 3 Malaysians, who boarded Philippine Airlines and Malaysian Airlines flights evening of February 7. DMS