43 arrested over casino kidnappings in Philippines
Gang of Chinese and Malaysians alleged to have been involved in spate of crimes including abduction of woman gambler
At least 41 Chinese and two Malaysians have been arrested by Philippine police for being members of a crime syndicate linked to the abduction of a 48-year-old Singaporean woman in Manila, according to the authorities.
Senior Superintendent Glenn Dumlao, acting director of the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group, said the foreigners apprehended on Tuesday were part of a loan sharking syndicate that preyed on foreigners at casinos around Manila.
Police said the victim, Wu Yan, 48, a tourist from Singapore, was playing baccarat at the Solaire Resort and Casino in the Manila suburb of Pasay City on Monday when two Malaysians befriended her, and later invited her to play at the City of Dreams, another casino complex in that suburb.
But the woman was instead taken to an apartment in the nearby suburb of Paranaque and detained. Police said the suspects demanded US$180,000 in exchange for her release, which she conveyed to a friend in Singapore.
Teresita Ang See, founding chairperson of the Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order, a Manila-based NGO that helps kidnap victims, said she worked on 11 cases involving Chinese last year. “There are many more in reality that we haven’t came across yet,” Ang See said.