INQUIRER.net
CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — Four Chinese believed to be members of a kidnap-for-ransom group were killed in a shootout with policemen on Monday night after authorities swooped down on their rented house in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, and rescued a Chinese businessman.
The victim, Lyu Xingou, 70, was lying on the floor when members of the Anti-Kidnapping Group-Visayas Field Unit (AKG-VFU) found him in one of the rooms of the house located inside a subdivision in Barangay Bankal.
Lyu, a real estate investor on Mactan Island, was blindfolded while his hands were tied together and his feet were bound to the bed. He was taken to a local hospital for a medical examination after the rescue.
Police identified the suspects as Lin Heng, You Yiping, Li Fengqiang and Gong Jinming, who arrived in the country on tourist visa, said Lt. Zosimo Ravanes, the AKG-VFU team leader.
“The suspects were part of an organized syndicate which were based in Manila before [they transferred] to Cebu,” he added.
Earlier, the AKG-VFU received information about the illegal activities of the suspects, prompting the unit to start an investigation.
On May 27, the unit received a report from Lyu Xicia, who is based in Fujian, China, that his father was kidnapped on May 25 while at the garage of his house in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City, as he was getting ready to leave for his office in Lapu-Lapu City.
Initial payment
Xicia told the AKG-VFU that the kidnappers were demanding P7 billion in exchange for the release of his father.
The son said he had given an initial amount of ¥500,000 (about P3.5 million) to the suspects through WeChat, a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app.
Police were able to trace the suspects to their rented house in Barangay Bankal, using the phone number used in WeChat.
The AKG-VFU, together with the police’s Regional Intelligence Division and the Lapu-Lapu City police, hatched an operation to rescue the victim at 9:30 p.m. Monday.
The suspects — armed with .45-caliber and 9mm pistols — put up a fight. The exchange of gunfire lasted for at least 30 minutes and left four dead, Ravanes said.
He said they were conducting a probe to determine if the four Chinese were connected to the kidnapping of Chinese businessman and real estate developer Li Hong Yu on May 7.
Li, who was beaten up by his kidnappers, was also rescued by the police in the operation that collared two of the five suspects—Xue Rong Tong and Li Guo Min. The three others — a Chinese and two Filipinos — managed to escape.
Xue and Li told investigators that they were assigned to guard the victim and that they had a leader whom they called “Boss.”
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