45 foreigners nabbed for kidnap of casino players

Joint teams of the Bureau of Immigration and Philippine National Police (PNP) arrested last Tuesday 45 foreigners allegedly involved in kidnap-for-ransom operations victimizing foreign casino players in the country. Members of the BI Fugitive Search Unit (FSU) and the PNP’s Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) also rescued a Singaporean identified as Wu Yan from the syndicate during the operation.

Among those arrested was Chinese Zhang Fuxing, believed to be the leader of the gang, as well as Malaysians Ng Yu Meng and Goh Kok Keong.

Wu identified the three men as the ones who kidnapped her at the Solaire Resort and Casino in Pasay City.

The victim was brought to the nearby Bayview International Towers where she was held, beaten and threatened by the kidnappers who demanded $180,000 for her release.

Authorities believed that the group was responsible for the series of kidnapping incidents involving foreign high-roller casino players in recent months.

In the initial operation, 26 foreigners were arrested but all of them failed to present any immigration document and refused to divulge their identities.

A follow-up operation led to the arrest of 19 more foreign suspects believed to be members of the group.

The arrested foreign nationals were brought to the PNP-AKG headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City. Representatives from the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China and Chinese Interpol assisted in the investigation and also served as translators.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) warned yesterday the public that unscrupulous individuals are posing as employees of the firm to swindle money.

Pagcor learned that several suspects had claimed to be employees of the firm and swindled substantial amounts of cash and various products from their victims, mostly business establishments that fell prey to fraudulent contracts.