14 Chinese men face illegal gambling raps in Angeles City

MABALACAT CITY, Pampanga—Complaints of illegal gambling have been filed against 14 Chinese men recently arrested in Angeles City for allegedly playing poker, authorities said on Tuesday (Aug. 31).

Col. Norberto Delmas, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Region 3 (CIDG-3) officer, told the Inquirer over the phone that they recently received several complaints about “noisy Chinese men” gambling almost every night on the second floor of a convenience store building along Friendship Highway in Barangay Pampang.

“So we conducted a surveillance operation to verify the reports. And it turned out that it was true, that there were indeed Chinese men playing poker. So we decided to raid the place, along with the city police,” he said.

The raid was conducted around 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 29 and the complaints were filed with the Angeles City Prosecutor’s Office on Monday, Delmas said.

A separate statement from the Police Regional Police Office 3 (PRO3) identified the arrested suspects as Harry Zhang, Frank Wang, Harry Wung, David Wang, Abu Deng, Abu Yang Jin, James Zhang, Zhou Bin, Yang Bing, Zho Ya, Lan Mi, Lao Hai Ping, Jacky Lau, and Henry Yuan.

A poker table, P15,000 cash, seven packs of poker cards, two cases of assorted coin chips, and a money counting machine were confiscated from the suspects.

Delmas said the arrested suspects were brought to the CIDG-Angeles City detention center.

The PRO3 said the service firearms of “private bodyguards” were also confiscated for verification purposes.