The former mayor of the Philippines who had been on the run for weeks after being accused of being a spy for China has been arrested in Indonesia.
Philippine authorities have been tracking Alice Guo in four countries since she disappeared in July following an investigation into her criminal activities.
He is accused of protecting online casinos, which were the hub of scam centers and human trafficking gangs in his hometown, Bamban.
Ms. Guo denies these allegations. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he will be returned to the Philippines starting Wednesday.
He said he grew up on a family farm with a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, but MPs investigating the operation of the fraud center said his fingerprints matched a Chinese man named Guo Hua Ping and accused him of being a spy for gangs.
The surprise of his case, which has already seen his sister arrested and questioned by the Philippine Senate, sparked outrage in the country and attracted international attention.
Ms. Guo’s case has played out as the Philippines continues to follow Manila and Beijing hover over reefs and outcrops in the South China Sea.
China, however, has not yet commented on the allegations against him.
Authorities believe that Ms. Guo bypassed border checks in July then he took several boats, crossing the neighboring countries of Malaysia and Singapore, heading to Indonesia, where he was arrested on Tuesday at the western border of the capital Jakarta.
Mr Marcos said his arrest was “a warning to those who try to evade justice”.
“Such an act is futile. The arm of the law is long and it will reach you,” he wrote on Facebook.
The photos showed Ms. Guo wearing light pink pajamas and a white coat when she was arrested.
Ms Guo was thrown under national scrutiny after the authorities in March found a scam center in Bamban which were hiding under the guise of online casinos, known locally as Philippine Online Gaming Operations (Pogo).
Pogos caters to clients in mainland China, where gambling is illegal.
Ms. Guo’s case confirmed allegations that Pogos was being used as a platform for organized crime and led to Mr. Marcos being outlawed due to public anger.
Pogos flourished under Marcos’ predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, whose presidency was marked by close ties with China.
But Mr Marcos has reversed the country’s foreign policy and has cracked down on crimes linked to Pogo since taking office in 2022.
When the police raided Mrs. Guo’s town, they rescued nearly 700 workers from the scam centers, including 202 Chinese nationals and 73 other foreigners who were forced to pretend to be Internet lovers.
A subsequent Senate investigation focused on his inability to locate the eight-acre fraud center despite its location near his office.
The Senators also told him about his parents. A relative unknown in local politics, he was elected mayor during his first run for public office, which is rare in areas dominated by political families.
Ms Guo’s vague answers to questions about her roots have led some MPs to accuse her of being a “property” or a Chinese spy.
He had an interview on television where he said that his low appearance is due to the fact that his father is the child of his father and his mother, who is also his maid. He said this forced him to live a sheltered life on the family farm, until he was elected as the mayor of Bamban.
But the controversy did not subside and after he refused to appear at subsequent hearings, senators in July ordered his arrest. However, at that time he was no longer visible in the public eye.
Soon after, the anti-graft movement ousted him from office.
In August, Philippine authorities said he fled to an unknown country and traveled through Singapore and Malaysia en route to Indonesia.
One official said he might head to the Golden Triangle, a region on the southeast Asian border that is a known hotbed for organized crime groups.
An angry Mr Marcos then ordered his Philippine passport canceled and warned that “heads will roll”.
He said Ms Guo’s escape “exposed the corruption that undermines our justice system and erodes public trust”.
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