BACOLOD, Philippines – Authorities arrested an alleged leader of a separatist group, wanted in India for multiple serious crimes, in Bacolod City on Monday night, July 8.
Colonel Noel Aliño, Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) director, identified the suspect as 40-year-old Joginder Geong, with aliases Joginder Geyong and Kant Gupta, an alleged leader of a Khalistani group labeled as a terrorist organization in India.
The movement seeks to create a separate state called Khalistan due to perceived the marginalization of Sikhs and demands for autonomy.
Aliño said Geong, who used a Nepalese passport to enter the country under the name Kant Gupta, was cornered by police and immigration operatives inside his rented house at Santa Lucia Gardens in Barangay Taculing, Bacolod, at around 7:40 pm on Monday.
Geong had been in the city since 2022 and operated a money-lending business alongside other Indians, police said.
Geong was arrested after the Bureau of Immigration (BI) issued a memorandum on July 5 about Geong in Bacolod. The BI memorandum referenced a June 22 request from First Secretary Nilesh Kumar Rai of the Indian embassy in Manila for Geong’s immediate arrest.
The Indian embassy said Geong has a history of serious offenses such as murder, attempted murder, extortion, and robbery, and was also convicted of firearms violations in India, Rai said.
Aliño said authorities were able to locate Geong in Bacolod after they received a tip from a concerned citizen through a police hotline.
Captain Dax Santillan, chief of the Bacolod police station in Taculing, said Geong didn’t resist arrest when a raiding team, composed of police officers from Camp Crame and the police regional office, and BI agents, pounced on him.
Geong was taken to Manila by BI-Fugitive Search Unit operatives on Tuesday afternoon.
Following Geong’s arrest, Aliño warned other foreign fugitives that Bacolod is not a “haven for criminals or terrorists.” – Rappler.com