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MANILA, Philippines —One of the two kidnapping victims recently rescued by the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) in Parañaque City turned out to be an international fugitive wanted for fraud.
According to AKG director Brig. Gen. Rudolph Dimas, Li You-Ci, a 33-year-old Taiwanese woman, had a standing warrant of arrest issued by Taiwan’s Fuchien Kinmen District Prosecutors Office.
Dimas said the warrant was implemented on Tuesday by the AKG in coordination with the Bureau of Immigration, where Li was turned over for deportation proceedings.Dimas said the kidnapping cases against the two Filipino suspects and their cohorts would still be pursued despite the deportation of Li.
The kidnapping-for-ransom cases against Lorriel Lozano and Eunice Zarate were referred for inquest proceedings before senior assistant state prosecutor Jeanette Dacpano at the Department of Justice, while preliminary investigation was recommended against their cohorts.On Sunday, operatives of the AKG and Southern Police District rescued Li and Chinese national Zhou Xiangqin, 42, who were found inside dog cages inside a house on Vicente Recto Street in Barangay BF Homes.
The operation also resulted in a shootout with three unidentified Chinese nationals. The wounded suspects were brought to the Parañaque Medical Center but were all declared dead on arrival.
Three other people in the abductors’ safe house were invited to reveal what they know about the kidnapping.
Recovered from the crime scene were assorted firearms and ammunition, military uniforms, assorted fake vehicle plate numbers, assorted fake conduction stickers, one black Toyota Innova vehicle, and scattered white crystalline substance suspected to be “shabu” (crystal meth).
Prior to the rescue operation, the Las Piñas City police station rescued Chinese national Lin Qingchang, who escaped from the Chinese abductors.
Lin’s statements led to a follow-up operation that led to the arrest of Lozano, who is the caretaker of the kidnappers’ safe house on Kamagong Road, Pilar Village, in Las Piñas.The AKG is still investigating the reason for the abduction of the three victims on different days in February.
Zhou was abducted on Feb. 3 near the corner of San Andres and M.H. del Pilar Streets in Malate, Manila; Li was kidnapped on Feb. 14 outside a Chinese restaurant in Pasay; while Lin was captured on Feb. 26 along Arnaiz Avenue in Pasay City.
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