MANILA >> Philippine police have arrested eight South Koreans who allegedly hacked into one of the country’s biggest telecommunications companies to lower the cost of international cellphone calls for other Koreans in the Philippines.

Police Cyber Crime Division chief Gilbert Sosa said the hackers were rounded up Monday in four raids around metropolitan Manila along with seven Filipino women working for them.

Sosa said today the group allegedly hacked lines for international calls of Globe Telecom and rerouted them to mostly South Koreans users living in the Philippines, charging them less than half the normal international call rates of 11-15 cents per minute.

The raids follow the arrest last week of another South Korean who allegedly hacked into the international gateway of Smart Communications.

Globe and Smart dominate the Philippine mobile market.