Immigration operatives turn away South Korean wanted for illegal online gaming racket

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has turned away a South Korean fugitive facing cases for operating a multi-million dollar illegal online gaming racket in Cambodia a few years ago.

On Friday, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Terminal 2  intercepted Jung Wook Yi on February 11 when he arrived from Incheon.

“He was refused entry after it was found that he was the subject of a red notice from the INTERPOL due to a criminal case that was filed against him in Korea,” the BI chief said.

Yi, who had been in the INTERPOL’s list of wanted criminals since 2013, was booked on the first available flight to Incheon where upon his arrival he was fetched and arrested by South Korean policemen.

The BI said a central district court in Seoul issued a warrant for Yi’s arrest on August 28, 2013 and that, if convicted, he could be sentenced to three years in prison.

Citing information from the Korean embassy, the agency said that between December 2009 and November 2011 Yi colluded with several other suspects in opening thousands of illegal gambling websites in Cambodia.

The websites reportedly enabled the internet users to watch via live stream black jack and baccarat games being played inside several casinos that the syndicate had established in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh.

Yi and his accomplices are said to have amassed a profit of as much as 116 billion Korean won or about $101 million from their racket where an estimated 1.05 trillion Korean won or $914 billion was placed in bets by online gamblers. — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News