The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has announced the arrest of a Japanese man wanted by authorities in Tokyo for allegedly abducting and assaulting a female compatriot over four years ago.
Identified as 38-year-old Sugihara Hirotaka, the fugitive was apprehended on Monday along Dr. A. Santos Ave., San Dionisio, Parañaque City, by operatives of the BI’s fugitive search unit (FSU), according to Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco.
Hirotaka is set to be deported back to Japan, as he was previously ordered expelled by the BI in August 2021, following a deportation order issued against him by the bureau’s board of commissioners for being an undesirable alien.
“We will deport him as soon as we have secured the necessary clearances for his departure. He cannot return to the Philippines as he was already blacklisted and banned from re-entering the country,” Tansingco added.
Japanese authorities sought Hirotaka’s arrest and deportation in Manila in August 2021, after he was implicated in the abduction and rape of a woman in Osaka in 2019. A warrant for Hirotaka’s arrest was reportedly issued by the Osaka summary court, where he was charged with abduction for the purpose of obscenity and rape resulting in injury, in violation of Japan’s penal code.
According to BI-FSU acting chief Rendel Ryan Sy, Hirotaka is also a suspect in a series of violent incidents involving the abduction and rape of other minors in Japan.
To evade prosecution, Hirotaka had been hiding in the Philippines since March 6, 2019, when he arrived in the country as a tourist. He had overstayed his visa since then.
Currently detained at the BI warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, Hirotaka awaits the implementation of his deportation.
