By Martin A. Sadongdong
Three foreigners tagged as the leader and members of the notorious Angolan Budol-Budol Gang involved in the “black dollar scam” in southern Metro Manila were apprehended by the police in Pasay City, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported yesterday.
PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde identified the suspected swindlers as Gum Blanche Murphy, 28, from Angola; and Aroon James, 44, from Puerto; and Brown Akwe Fonboh, 43, from the United States of America; all temporarily residing in a hotel on Ortigas Avenue in Pasig City.
The three suspects were arrested in an entrapment operation conducted by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group’s National Capital Region Field Unit (NCRFU) last May 25 within the vicinity of a mall at Sunset Drive corner Pacific Drive, Pasay.
According to Albayalde, a Chinese man who requested not to be named reported to authorities that the three suspects duped him of P250,000 after saying they could turn an ordinary piece of paper to US dollar bills by applying a chemical they owned.
Apparently convinced by the sweet-talking suspects, the victim gave them the money but he did not receive the dollar bills.
On May 23, the suspects again contacted the Chinese man and demanded R5 million from him in exchange for US$100,000 plus the initial amount they owed him which would be given in converted dollar bills. That was the time the Chinese man asked for help from the authorities, who then organized the entrapment operation that led to the arrest of the suspects.
Albayalde said the suspects fought off the operatives during the arrest and tried to escape but they were subdued after a brief chase.