The Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced Tuesday the deportation of a Chinese national tagged as a “drug kingpin” and wanted in his home country for kidnapping.
Shi Chunfang, 40, was escorted onto a flight to China on December 22, ending his stay in the Philippines after he was identified as an undocumented and undesirable alien.
Shi was originally apprehended on December 14 in a residential area in Taytay, Rizal. While he was initially sought by Chinese authorities for a 2024 kidnapping warrant issued by the Public Security Bureau of Jinjiang City, Philippine intelligence reports later linked him to significant local criminal activity.
Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado revealed that following his arrest, investigators discovered Shi was allegedly operating a clandestine methamphetamine (shabu) laboratory in Rizal while posing as an “influential community leader.”
“We were informed that he is a kingpin in the illicit drug industry, heading a shabu laboratory while posing as an ordinary citizen,” Viado said in an earlier statement.
Although the Chinese Embassy had requested Shi’s expedited deportation, the process was briefly delayed to allow the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of Justice to investigate his local operations. The BI confirmed that the PNP cleared the deportation earlier this week after coordinating on the filing of necessary reports.
Accompanying Shi in his initial arrest was 37-year-old Shuguang Fan, who was also flagged for an unexplained overstay in the country.
The BI noted that Shi’s passport had been canceled by the Chinese government, and he had been on the agency’s blacklist and watchlist since earlier this year. He now faces the kidnapping charges awaiting him in China, while Philippine authorities continue to monitor networks linked to his alleged drug operations.