(Photo from the PNP-AKG Facebook account)
MANILA, Philippines — Two kidnapped Chinese nationals were rescued in separate operations, the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) reported on Thursday.
The PNP-AKG said the mother of one of the victims, Kang Xintong, said she received a call on December 12, 2018 from the kidnappers using her son’s WeChat account.
The mother, who is in China, said the kidnappers first demanded 50,000 Chinese yuan (around P382,500) and another 20,000 Chinese yuan (around P153,000) after informing her that her son was in their custody.
The said amounts were deposited to the kidnappers’ account but the victim was not released. The abductors then asked for an additional P1.4 million, which prompted the victim’s mother to report the case to the PNP-AKG.
At around 4 p.m. on December 20, the PNP-AKG said that Raymond Tan, the interpreter of the complainant, informed them that Kang Xintong escaped from his kidnappers.
AKG operatives were dispatched to rescue the victim at the Katarungan Village in Muntinlupa City.
A follow-up operation led to the discovery of the suspects’ abandoned “safe house“ on Jaranilla St., Barangay Poblacion, Muntinlupa City, where the victim was reportely “illegally detained” for 11 days, the police said.
Authorities said the victim identified the person who rented the “safe house” as Mr. Pan Sijia while the latter’s two companions were identified through the closed-circuit television camera.
Meanwhile, the other kidnapped Chinese national, Zaiping Yang, was also rescued on December 26 at the Hilton Hotel in Pasay City.
According to the police, Yang was playing at the Resorts World Casino when five other Chinese nationals approached him and lent him P200,000 worth of casino chips as a loan, but Yang lost.
This prompted the group to bring Yang to a room and ask him to call his relatives in China to demand 30,000 Chinese yuan (around P229,500) for his release.
Yang was then escorted to the hotel lobby by one of his captors so he can call his girlfriend and other Chinese friends for help.
This led the hotel security to contact the PNP-AKG, which resulted to the rescue of the victim and the arrest of the five Chinese suspects namely: Zhou You Liung, Chang Chang Chun, Yu Jiang Yang, Ao Peng Liang, and Yang Yu Qi.
Authorities said they are now preparing appropriate criminal charges against the arrested suspects for Kidnapping for Ransom with Serious Illegal Detention (Art 267).