6 KOREANS, 15 FILIPINOS NABBED IN PASAY HOTEL BASEMENT POGO RAID

JOINT operatives on Monday arrested six South Korean nationals and 15 Filipinos allegedly operating a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub in Pasay City.

Officers and members of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) implemented a mission order based on intelligence information regarding a group engaged in online gaming that targets Korean nationals.

The arrested Koreans and Filipinos were found  in one of the rooms in the basement of Heritage Hotel in Pasay City.

The Korean police also assisted in the raid.

 “Apart from gaming operations, they are also allegedly involved in game fixing and online scamming,” the PAOCC said.

“We’ve been hearing Korean POGOs for a long time but this is the first time we get actual Koreans running an offshore gaming operations,”  said PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio.

Aside from computers, authorities also seized small gadgets that generate one-time passwords (OTP). 

The arrested suspects are being held at the PAOCC’s custodial facility awaiting complaints for violation of the Securities Regulation Code, Illegal Gambling in Relation to Republic Act 10175, Money Laundering, and the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act.