Police arrest three Korean fugitives charged with robbery in the Philippines

Three suspects of robbery and physical assault are caught in the Philippines on May 3. [NATIONAL POLICE AGENCY]

Three Korean fugitives wanted by Interpol on charges of robbery and physical assault were caught in the Philippines earlier this month, a top Korean police agency said Sunday.

The arrest of three thieves — who were a part of a seven-member ring — happened six months after they fled to the Philippines and 23 months after their alleged theft and violence, according to the National Police Agency.

In June 2022, the three suspects in their 20s and 30s, along with four other accomplices, reportedly broke into an apartment unit in Namyangju, Gyeonggi with their faces covered and stole cash and valuable items worth approximately 130 million won ($94,814) after physically assaulting and coercing victims.

The four accomplices who colluded in the robbery were captured last November.

While the authorities were tracing the remaining three suspects who were on the lam, the police received information in February that they had departed the country and fled to the Philippines.

The information prompted Interpol to issue a red notice, enabling law-enforcement authorities from Korea and the Philippines to track the suspects down and identify their whereabouts jointly.

Upon discovering their hideout in the Filipino province of Cebu, the officers followed the suspects covertly on April 3. The first attempt to capture them failed after the officers lost sight of the three suspects, who frequently switched their means of transportation by abandoning their car and using rental cars and taxis.

Later, on April 26, the police were tipped off that the suspects were hiding in Talisay, a city in the southern area of Cebu. The officers stormed their relocated hideout in Talisay and apprehended them alive.

The three suspects are currently detained at the Philippines’ Immigration Bureau-managed detention center in Manila. Local authorities are taking measures to deport them forcibly.

“[The Korean police] has requested the Philippines’ cooperation so that the three suspects could be safely and smoothly transferred to the hands of Korean authorities,” an official from the National Police Agency said.

The Korean police plan to bring them back to Korea through forced repatriation.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]