2 Chinese men arrested in compatriot’s slay at Makati resto

CHINESE VS CHINESE Police inspect the VIP room in a Chinese restaurant in Makati City where Yin Jian Tao was fatally shot on Thursday night. The victim was at Jiang Nan Hot Pot to exchange P300,000 for yuans of a fellow Chinese worker in a Philippine offshore gaming operator, but investigators said the meeting was only a setup to get his money. —PHOTO COURTESY OF MAKATI POLICE

MANILA, Philippines — Police have arrested two Chinese men in the fatal shooting of a fellow Chinese they allegedly tried to dupe into giving them P300,000 at a restaurant in Makati City.

A security guard at Jiang Nan Hot Pot was able to stop the two men—Yang Chao Wen, 32, and Liang Yuan Wu, 29—who tried to escape after shots were fired inside a VIP room of the restaurant in Bel Air around 10 p.m. on Thursday.

Yin Jian Tao, 33, was killed outright and his companion, Zheng Kai, 25, was wounded.

Both were found bloodied and slumped on the floor by Yin’s wife after she heard the shots, police said.

Currency exchange

Kai is in stable condition in a hospital, according to investigator Police Staff Sergeant Evelyn Quirante.

Quirante said Yin had about P300,000 that he was to exchange for Yang’s Chinese yuans.

Yang, whose tourist visa had expired 20 days earlier, had told Yin he needed Philippine pesos to buy a ticket for his return flight back to China, Quirante said.

But she said Yang, Liang, and a third Chinese allegedly plotted to dupe Yin into giving them his money as Yang didn’t have enough yuans to exchange for the victim’s pesos.

Yin, Kai, and the three other men were Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) employees but the police were still uncertain whether they all worked for one company.

Denials

A day before the meeting at the restaurant, Yang and Liang admitted they bought the .45-caliber pistol, which was recovered at the crime scene and allegedly used in the shooting, from a fellow Chinese in Pasay City, Quirante said.

She said the two men did not identify the person they bought the gun from and denied they shot Yin. They pointed to the third Chinese as the gunman, who escaped with two other unidentified men, she said.

Two other pistols were also found in Yang’s possession, Quirante added.

“From the suspects’ testimonies, it appears they really planned on killing the victims because they really didn’t have the money,” Quirante said.

Yin’s wife told police she was eating outside the VIP room when she heard gunshots and found her husband and Kai on the floor inside the room.

This was the second violent case involving Chinese Pogo employees in Makati so far this year, police said.

In January, five Chinese men were arrested for kidnapping and torturing a fellow Pogo employee.