PNP official: Chinese kidnappers in cahoots with ex-cops, soldiers

MANILA, Philippines — Chinese kidnapping groups in the country have been hiring former police and military personnel as their henchmen, an official of the Philippine National Police said on Sunday.

Maj. Ronaldo Lumactod, operations chief of the PNP’s Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG), said his unit was going after Filipinos employed by Chinese involved in casino debt-related kidnapping of their compatriots.

In a radio interview on Sunday, Lumactod said some Chinese nationals hired former police and military personnel to act as guides or goons for their illegal activities, particularly casino debt-related kidnappings.

“We have ongoing manhunt operations against these individuals, former military and police personnel,” he said.

Lumactod claimed that some of these men were ranking officers of the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines when they were still in the service. But he declined to identify their ranks, explaining it might jeopardize police operations.

The former policemen and soldiers usually search for or provide safe houses where the hostages are to be kept, said a source from the PNP-AKG.

The source also said those in cahoots with Chinese kidnapping groups were mostly former noncommissioned officers.

Casino junkets, hostages

Since 2017, there have been 57 cases of casino debt-related abductions, with the hostages being Chinese nationals targeted by their compatriots.

The kidnappers’ mode of operation, according to the PNP-AKG, involves offers of accommodations and huge loans to Chinese gamblers who are required to sign promissory notes and turn over their passports.

The deal requires that 20 to 30 percent of their winnings go to a moneylender as commission.

A gambler who has lost would be detained, beaten and filmed while being tortured.

The video will then be sent to the family in mainland China to coerce them to pay ransom through wire transfer in exchange for the hostage’s release.

Lumactod said the government’s visa-upon-arrival program also contributed to the rise in kidnappings.

Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, the PNP spokesperson, said in a text message, “Through the Department of the Interior and Local Government, we propose for close coordination and information-sharing between PNP and BI (Bureau of Immigration) for effective monitoring of foreign visitors coming in and out of the country.”