Chinese, Malaysians suspected of being part of kidnap gang arrested by police

July 20, 2017

Forty three Chinese and Malaysian nationals that are part of a kidnap for ransom group were arrested by the Philippine National Police on Tuesday. Philippine National Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa said Thursday 41 Chinese and two Malaysians were arrested after kidnapping Wu Yan,48, a Singaporean national and asked a ransom of $180,000. Dela Rosa said Chen Deqin, the Chinese leader of the group is still "at large". Around 11 cases of kidnap for ransom with the same nature were reported to PNP since 2015 to 2017. Two of those cases were conducted by the group of Deqin, he said. Dela Rosa said an inquest proceeding was conducted last Wednesday against the suspects for the crime of kidnap for ransom and serious illegal detention. The victim was playing at the Solaire Resorts and Casino in Pasay City when two Malaysian nationals, Ng Yu Meng and Goh Kok Keong befriended approached her and invited her to play at the  City of Dreams, he said. Senior Superintendent Glenn Dumlao , acting director Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) said, "Usually they look into the profile of the victim...Then when they see that the victim is loosing in the games, they will befriend her and they will offer to lend money. The more debt the better for them", he said. "Then if the debt mounted, they will get 10 percent. Each time the victim wins a bet they also have 10 percent share on that aside from 10 percent from the capital. If the victim lose they will ask her to transfer to City of Dreams", Dumlao said. They will kidnap the victim once she boarded the vehicle. The suspects will take a video of the victim being tortured and send it to the family, he said. Dumlao said Yan was detained at the Bayview International Condominium in Paranaque City  where 14 people were guarding her. "When we conduct our operation the administrative personnel said "sir their other companions are in different rooms. So, they were just exchanging places", he said. Dumlao said the group has ten teams with four members. Each team profiled their own target and roam around the casino of Metro Manila, Subic,  Bataan Freeport and other places. He said the group is targeting Singaporean and Chinese nationals. "When we talked to the consul of China... he said gambling is forbidden in China, it's like a sin" Dumlao said. Dumlao said the tourist visa of the suspects will expire in two weeks. Dela Rosa said PNP has identified two loan shark syndicates in the country. "All of the arrested 44 suspects are part of a cell of a loan shark syndicate", he said. (Alanna Ambi/DMS)