Abduction of Chinese foiled

Residents of Barangay Pio del Pilar in Makati City foiled the attempted abduction of a Chinese man by his workmates in a Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) service provider on Wednesday night.

Makati police arrested four Chinese nationals—two women: Wen Lin, 24; Ji Mu, 29; and two men, La Jia, 25; Yang Yang, 26—as well as two Filipinos, bouncer Jay Maris de Borja, 34; and driver Arnil Abenoja, 38.

Neighbors block van

According to Makati police chief, Col. Rogelio Simon, 33-year-old Chinese national Huang Wei was in his rented house around 7:30 p.m. when the suspects barged in and shoved him inside a white Toyota HiAce van parked near the corner of J. Victor and Roosevelt Streets, a few meters away from the barangay hall.

Residents and onlookers saw Huang being mauled and brought inside the van, prompting them to call the police and block the van from leaving the area.

Based on the investigation, Huang was not able to pay his debt to one of the suspects amounting to P86,000.

“The Chinese suspect then asked her colleagues to help abduct [Huang] to intimidate him and force him to pay up,” Simon said.

The suspects and the victims were all employees of a Pogo company based in Parañaque City. The van used by the suspects was owned by the same company.

Abenoja denied knowing that they planned to kidnap Huang. He said he was called by one of the suspects to fetch another coworker in Pio del Pilar.

The suspects were charged with physical injuries and kidnapping.

‘Hanging out’

This attempted kidnapping came almost three months after a Chinese woman was caught on video being abducted by her compatriots, in what police called another Pogo-related crime.

Pogo manager Zhou Mei was forced inside a van on the night of Dec. 9, 2019, right in the bustle of Makati’s central business district.

She was freed six days later, and told police she would not press charges against out of fear for her life.