(Eagle News) — Two men were arrested in Pampanga on Friday after they attempted to bribe immigration agents with P1.5 million in exchange for the release of a French fugitive, the Bureau of Immigration said on Monday, Feb. 1.
The bureau said Aaron Bolus and Joseph Gonzales were nabbed in an entrapment operation conducted by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the City Intelligence Unit of the Angeles City Police Office.
The bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit Chief Bobby Raquepo said the two had acted on behalf of Julien Barbier, 39, who had been arrested at the Clark International Speedway, Mabalacat City, Pampanga earlier following official communication from French authorities that he was wanted in France.
Raquepo said Barbier was being monitored by the Interpol since 2018 reportedly for unlawful transport, retention, offer, sale, acquisition or use of drugs under Art 222-37 of the French Penal Code.
A warrant of arrest had been issued against him by the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris last August 2017.
A European warrant of arrest was also issued by the same court in September 2017.
According to Raquepo, they also received information on Barbier’s links to an illegal bank fraud syndicate that operated in Pampanga and Cebu.
“Upon receipt of information about his crimes, the Commissioner immediately issued a Mission Order to effect his arrest,” Raquepo said.
Barbier is temporarily in the physical custody of CIDG in Angeles pending the results of his RT PCR testing.
Raquepo said a case for violation of Article 212 of the Revised Penal Code is being prepared against the two suspects.
“We are relentless in our drive to eliminate corruption. Let this serve as a warning to anyone considering to attempt to bribe our employees,” Morente said.
“Never offer bribes, as I have instructed BI personnel to ensure the arrest of whomever would offer money in exchange for letting arrested foreigners go scot free,” he added.
