Philippines sacks 36 officials at detention center linked to Japanese robbery

MANILA -- Philippine authorities have dismissed 36 officials, including the director, at the Bicutan detention center in a Manila suburb, where four Japanese men suspected of involvement in a string of robberies across Japan are being held.

According to the local authorities, Yuki Watanabe, 38, and the three other Japanese men had given money to staff at the immigration facility so that they could use smartphones, the possession of which is banned at the centre.

Arrest warrants were issued for the four men in Japan on a suspicion of theft and other crimes related to special fraud that were unrelated to the recent robberies.

Suspicions have emerged that the detainees may have given instructions from inside the facility to the perpetrators of a series of robberies.

A number of phones, computers, Wi-Fi routers and other communication devices were seized in a search conducted Wednesday.