Investigators have warned against loan shark syndicates following a series of arrests involving the abduction of casino gamblers with unpaid debts in Manila.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) reported last week that six suspects in the kidnapping of three Chinese men last April were re-arrested after one of the suspects allegedly tried to bribe authorities with $11,000 or P572,000.
The suspects abducted the three Chinese men outside a casino hotel in Baragay Tambo in southern Manila in April. One of the Chinese men escaped.
In May 2018, 41 Chinese and two Malaysians were arrested for abducting a 48-year-old female tourist from Singapore, who was gambling at the Solaire Resort and Casino in Pasay City.
Two members of the gang befriended the tourist and asked her to accompany them to another casino at The City of Dreams, but they abducted the tourist and took her to an apartment in Paranaque. They asked her friends for a $180,000 ransom.
Teresita Ang See, founder of the Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order (MRPO), an organization that helps victims of kidnapping, said cases of kidnapping gamblers with unpaid debts are increasing. Since 2018, MRPO helped 11 abduction cases involving Chinese.
The NBI warned gamblers and tourists against accepting money from strangers at casinos and advised casino staff to be on alert.
