MANILA - Immigration agents arrested on Thursday two South Koreans wanted by authorities in Seoul for illegally operating an online gaming firm in the Philippines that victimized many of their compatriots.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) nabbed 28-year-old Lee Jongjin and 40-year-old Chae Kwangbeom in their residence at the Clark Hills Subdivision in Angeles City.

“We will deport them for being undocumented aliens as their passports were already cancelled by the Korean government. They are also undesirable aliens for being fugitives from justice who pose a risk to public safety and security,” Morente said in a statement.

Lee and Chae are subjects of arrest warrants issued by the Busan district court in Korea where they were charged for violating their country’s game industry promotion act.

The charges stemmed from their alleged operation of three private online servers in Angeles City after falsifying the interface adapter of a registered online game called “Lineage 1."

“Lineage 1,” manufactured by NC Soft Corporation, is very popular among Koreans and these enabled the suspects to receive huge sums of cash from unsuspecting subscribers by converting their game money called “adena.”

Investigation also revealed that both Lee and Chae arrived in the country in July and August last year, respectively, and that they reportedly started operating their online racket in January this year.



BI-FSU agents are also on the manhunt for two other Koreans who are alleged cohorts of Lee and Chae and are believed to still be in the country.