FUGITIVE ARRESTED. Personnel of Bacolod City Police Office-Police Station 6 arrest fugitive Joginder Geong, 40, at his rented residence in Santa Lucia Gardens Subdivision, Barangay Taculing, on Monday afternoon (July 8, 2024). Geong, who is involved in a string of criminal offenses in his home country, is using a fake Nepalese passport under the name “Kant Gupta.” (Photos courtesy of Bacolod City Police Office)
BACOLOD CITY – A joint police operation at a residence in Santa Lucia Gardens Subdivision, Barangay Taculing here, arrested an Indian national involved in a string of criminal offenses in his home country on Monday afternoon.
A police report identified the suspect as Joginder Geong, 40, also known as “Joginder Geyong” and “Kant Gupta.”
Geong, being a fugitive from another country, is considered an undesirable alien for violating the Philippine Immigration Act, according to a report from the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO).
Capt. Dax Santillan, chief of Police Station 6, which led the arrest operation, said in an interview Tuesday that Geong, using a fake Nepalese passport, has been found staying in the city since 2022.
“He is renting the house and living there alone,” he added.
Santillan said Geong was placed in the custody of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) following his arrest.
Based on the photo provided by the BCPO, Geong was escorted by arresting officers towards a police service vehicle at around 5:18 p.m.
According to the BI FSU, they received a communication from First Secretary Nilesh Kumar Rai of the Embassy of India in Manila on June 22, requesting the arrest and deportation of Geong, who identifies himself as “Kant Gupta” in the fraudulent Nepalese passport.
“Geong is a notorious criminal with a history of serious offenses such as murder, attempted murder, extortion, and robbery,” it added.
Under the name “Kant Gupta,” he obtained a driver’s license, with an expiration date of Nov. 11, 2026, from the Land Transportation Office, indicating a different address – 132 Zircon St., City Heights Subdivision also in Barangay Taculing.
The BI FSU said Geong, who leads an organized crime syndicate, has a life imprisonment sentence for violating arms laws in India.
Under his Indian name, Geong “has no record of any travel made in the country,” but under his Nepalese name, his most recent arrival was on Jan. 31 this year.
In August last year, the BI also deported two Indian nationals tagged as “terrorists” for being undesirable aliens months after their arrest in Iloilo City.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Geong will be similarly deported.
“He will be deported for being an undesirable, undocumented, and illegally staying alien whose presence here amounts to a blatant violation of our immigration laws,” Tansingco said in a statement.
Tansingco said Geong also has alleged links with the Khalistani terror group, which has waged an armed separatist rebellion aimed at establishing an independent Sikh state in India’s Punjab province. (with report from Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)
