The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has rescued in Las Pinas City eight Chinese who were tortured and forced by their captors to pay their gambling debts.
NBI Assistant Director Eric Distor said arrested during the operation was a Filipino and eight Chinese nationals involved in the victims’ abduction.
Distor identified the arrested Chinese as Ben Tan, Haitao Wang, Dechun Qin, Yong Fei Chan, Xiao Qiang Yang, Dong Zheng Wen, Beijun Lin, and Jung Wang, all of whom entered the country through tourist visas. The arrested Filipino is Jomar Lozada.
They were apprehended by operatives of the NBI’s Criminal Intelligence Division (NBI-CRID) last July 11 at a house in Las Pinas City where the Chinese victims had been kept.
The agents seized during the operation two handguns, mobile phones and cash.
NBI-CID chief Sixto Comia said the victims were kidnapped by the suspects several times in the past over unpaid gambling debts.
“Marami na po ang kasong ito na mga Chinese na nagka-casino dito sa Pilipinas ay pinapautang po nila pag natalo,” he explained .
“Pag natalo ulit at hindi nakabayad dinodoble po nila singil o mas malaki pa ang karaniwan pong bayaran,” he added.
Comia said some of the victims were even tortured and the results of which were shown to their respective families through photographs to force them to pay up.
He said the NBI was able to trace the location of the victims after one of them was allowed to use a mobile phone, enabling him to secretly activate the GPS which he sent to his wife. (Jeffrey Damicog)
