Hair transplant tools, dental implants and skin-whitening IV drips have been seized from an underground clinic in the Philippines suspected of helping criminals transform their identities to avoid arrest. Police raided the clinic in Pasay City, south of Manila, in May, and two larger facilities look likely to be closed down over the next few weeks.Â
Authorities say these "clandestine hospitals have been offering plastic surgery services to fugitives and scam center workers," said Kelly Ng at the BBC. Although the venues "look like regular clinics on the outside," once you enter, you will be "shocked by the type of technology they have," Winston John Casio, a spokesperson for the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, said to the broadcaster. You could "create an entirely new person" from the equipment found in the Pasay City clinic.Â
"The commission believes a 'good number' of these illicit medical centers may be operating across the country," said the South China Morning Post's This Week in Asia. Authorities have caught two Vietnamese doctors, a Chinese doctor, a Chinese pharmacist and a Vietnamese nurse, none of whom were licensed to practice medicine in the Philippines as foreign professionals.Â
In 2022, immigration officials also arrested a suspected Chinese mafia member who allegedly underwent plastic surgery to evade detection. Casio believes that case may have been linked to an underground clinic.Â
The battle continues. "We won't stop until we get them," said Casio. "Because the implication in relation to other transnational crimes is immense." | 
