A fugitive former mayor in the Philippines accused of human trafficking and links to Chinese organized crime has been arrested in Indonesia, Philippine authorities said, while the extradition process was under way.
Alice Guo (郭華萍), a former mayor of a town north of Manila, has been on the run since being linked to a Chinese-run online gambling center where hundreds of people were forced to run scams or risk torture.
Authorities have accused the former Bamban mayor of involvement in the illicit operation and of being a Chinese national masquerading as a Philippine national to run for office.
Photo: AP
Guo was arrested by Indonesian police in Jakarta late on Tuesday, the Philippine Department of Justice said in a statement.
“Indonesia tagged Guo as an illegal alien, since they know that she is a fugitive here in the Philippines, then there was also a misrepresentation of her nationality in her passport,” Philippine Bureau of Immigration spokeswoman Dana Sandoval told reporters yesterday, detailing the grounds for Guo’s arrest.
Indonesia later yesterday said that it would deport Guo to the Philippines.
Indonesian Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas said that the time of deportation was still to be determined.
The immigration agency and the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are coordinating with Indonesian authorities to secure her return “in the soonest possible time,” NBI Director Jaime Santiago told reporters.
Guo is also wanted by the Philippine Senate for refusing to attend hearings on her alleged ties to scam farm operations in Bamban.
She faces charges of graft, money laundering and human trafficking in relation to the scam farm raid in Bamban.
Philippine Secretary of Justice Jesus Crispin Remulla said that Guo’s arrest was “a testament to the tireless efforts of our law enforcement agencies and the strength of international cooperation in bringing fugitives to justice.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr thanked the Indonesian government for its assistance on the arrest of Guo.
“Let this serve as a warning to those who attempt to evade justice: Such is an exercise in futility. The arm of the law is long and it will reach you,” Marcos wrote on social media.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS