Cops nab 3 Chinese nationals for kidnapping Malaysian

MANILA, Philippines — Anti-kidnapping police operatives have arrested three Chinese nationals for allegedly abducting a Malaysian, who was allegedly left in their custody by his friend who owed the suspects cash used for gambling.

The Philippine National Police-Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) reported Friday the arrest of Yuyun Gao, Xin Fan, and Wei Guo Li, and the rescue of victim Lim Raymond. Raymond was retrieved in an operation at a hotel in Parañaque City on Wednesday.

According to a report from PNP-AKG, the victim and his Malaysian friend Ah Hui went to a hotel and casino complex to gamble on Monday. When Ah Hui lost his money for playing in the casino, the suspects offered to lend him P500,000 worth of casino chips on the condition that he will give them 20 percent of every winning bet.

But Ah Hui did not win and lost all of the half-a-million peso cash. He then supposedly told Raymond to stay with the suspects while he would look for money outside the casino to supposedly pay the Chinese men. But Ah Hui allegedly did not return and did not answer repeated calls from the victim, according to police.

Police said the suspects then allegedly detained Raymond in a hotel room and ordered him to call his relatives in Malaysia to send him money in exchange for his freedom.

Police said the victim was able to contact his brother, who then sent the suspects 70,000 Chinese Yuan (around P510,000) through money transfer.

Despite the payment, the suspects did not release the victim and allegedly asked for another 70,000 Chinese Yuan as interest.

Police said the victim eventually managed to contact the hotel management via email and asked for help. The management then reported the incident to PNP-AKG, which launched the operation.

A case of kidnapping with serious illegal detention was filed Thursday against the Chinese suspects, who are now detained at the PNP-AKG office at Camp Crame, Quezon City. /kga