2 abducted former Pogo workers rescued, 5 Chinese nabbed

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Police – Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) rescued two abducted Chinese nationals who are former Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) workers and arrested five of their countrymen who snatched them in Pasay City.

The PNP-AKG on Friday said a certain Zhang Yao reported the abduction of his friends Wang Zhe, 21, and Zhang Jia, 32.

The three Chinese nationals are former workers of a Taguig City-based Pogo firm.

Police said the two victims left the company on September 16, 2019, when they realized they were working for a firm involved in online gaming, which is illegal in China.

They decided to process their travel documents and go back to China.

When they were about to pick up their documents from fixers near a hotel in Pasay City on September 27, they were allegedly abducted and handcuffed by the Chinese suspects who demanded cash for their release, police said.

The arrested kidnapping suspects were identified as Zou Jian Cong, Yang Yu Yang, Bruce Gao Zhan, Chen Xing Ding, and Wang Jian Bo.

The suspects allegedly brought the victims to the office of their former employer and demanded 80,000 RMB (around P578,200) for their release.

After a series of negotiations, police said the families of the victims wired 68,000 RMB (around P491,500) and 219,000 RMB (around P1,582,900) to the suspects.

The victims, however, were not released as the suspects demanded more money.

PNP-AKG operatives, after some resistance from the Pogo firm’s security personnel, managed to rescue the victims in the Pogo firm’s office.

Aside from the Chinese suspects, two security guards and a utility officer were likewise arrested for obstruction of justice.

Appropriate charges have been filed against the arrested suspects. /gsg