PHL immigration officials deport Japanese wanted for car theft

A Japanese wanted in his country for car theft has been deported via Japan Airlines flight 742, the Bureau of Immigration said Thursday. BI commissioner Ricardo David identified 34-year-old Hideto Ozawa, who was deported last Wednesday after being detained for one month at the BI detention center in Bicutan, Taguig City. David said Ozawa had been hiding in the Philippines for more than five years to evade prosecution for his crimes and had been placed on the immigration blacklist by the BI board of commissioners, which later issued the order for his summary deportation. A team of Japanese policemen escorted Ozawa to his trip back to Japan. Immigration officials learned Ozawa had been staying in the country as an undocumented alien since August last year when his passport expired. He, along with several other suspects, had stolen more than 10 vehicles from several parking lots in the Wakayama Prefecture between October and November 2005. The suspects allegedly had hidden the stolen cars inside a warehouse in Aridagawa town, Arida district, until Japanese authorities raided it. According to BI spokesperson Mari Antonette Bucasas-Mangrobang, Ozawa fled to Manila on March 11, 2006. A warrant for his arrest was issued on March 24 this year by the Yuasa summary court in Wakayama where he was charged with larceny. — B.L. Vergara/LBG, GMA News