MANILA, Philippines — The Chinese man who spat at a Manila police officer after being arrested for a traffic violation, will be facing additional charges for overstaying and for being an undesirable alien, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Wednesday.

In a statement, BI Chief Jaime Morente said members of the BI’s Intelligence Division took Zhou Zhiyi, 50, under custody for violating the Philippine Immigration Act.

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“I immediately dispatched a team of operatives from our Intelligence Division to effect his immediate arrest so he could also be charged for violating our immigration laws,” Morente said.

Morente said Zhou arrived in the Philippines as a tourist on Nov. 11, 2019 and was only allowed to stay in the country for 30 days. According to the BI, Zhou was already overstaying in the country when he spat on the Manila police officer last Feb. 6.

Zhou is now detained the BI Detention Facility in Bicutan, Taguig after he was earlier detained at the Manila Police District headquarters along U.N. Avenue in Manila.

In a text message to INQUIRER.net, BI spokeswoman Dana Sandoval said Zhou will also face deportation proceedings. But Sandoval added that Zhou’s traffic violation case should first be resolved by the local court.

To recall, Zhou tried to evade arrest after being stopped for violating the number coding scheme. Manila traffic enforcers sought assistance from policemen who then arrested the Chinese after the latter ran over several motorcycles.

While being arrested, Zhou spat at the arm of one of the arresting police officers. During a search, police officers also found shabu (crystal) meth and other drug paraphernalia inside Zhou’s sports utility vehicle.

Edited by MUF

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