PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief, General Rodolfo D. Azurin Jr. has ordered his investigators to unmask the people providing Chinese gangsters in Metro Manila with high-powered weapons they have been using to abduct and intimidate their targets, mostly their compatriots engaged in POGO or casino activities in the country, the Journal Group was told yesterday.

Over the past few years, there have been a number of cases of Chinese mainlanders who have been arrested while in possession of illegal firearms and other weapons in Metro Manila.

Since 2020, some of them have been killed in actual gunbattles with the police in Cebu, Pampanga and Quezon City following operations spearheaded by the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group now headed by Colonel Rodolfo D. Castil Jr.

The PNP chief wants to know who are the people supplying these rogue Chinese nationals with illegal guns. If they are from the underground, he said that he wants them identified and arrested.

If they are licensed guns which may have been stolen or sold to other persons, he wants to find the last registered owners of the weapons so that they could be charged criminally and administratively and ultimately stripped of their gun privileges upon conviction.

On Wednesday last week, a gang of Chinese nationals believed involved in kidnappings-for-ransom, illegal recruitment and gun trafficking in Metro Manila was smashed by combined agents of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) during an anti-crime raid in Pasay.

PNP-CIDG director, Brigadier General Ronald O. Lee said eight members of the organized crime ring were arrested by members of the CIDG National Capital Region Field Unit headed by Colonel Hansel M. Marantan inside Units E and F of the Storey Townhouse located on 250 F. Sanchez Street corner P. Villanueva St. in Pasay City.

“This is part of our stepped-up campaign against loose firearms, organized crime groups and wanted persons under our flagship projects Oplan: Paglalansag Omega, Oplan: OLEA and Oplan: Salikop as ordered by PNP chief, General Rodolfo Azurin Jr.,” said the PNP-CIDG director.

In coordination with other law enforcement agencies, the CIDG-NCRFU is looking into the possible involvement of the suspects in previous kidnapping-for-ransom cases involving Chinese POGO or online casino workers in the metropolis and its nearby regions.

A major headache of the police is the presence of armed Chinese nationals abducting their compatriots and demanding huge ransom for their safe release. In many cases, the kidnappers torture their captives and send their ‘torture video’ to their families abroad in order to force them to pay their ransom demand thru WeChat.

The arrested Chinese nationals were identified as Lin Gui,30; Wan Youchao,29; Reng Gong Hai,32; Ling Yi Han,24; Lin Shuang Feng,21; Maico Yang alias ‘Yang Tong,’27; Eden Hao alas ‘Hao Yifei,’26; and Toby Hou alias ‘Hou Gong Quiang,’31.

The first five suspects are all jobless while the three are said to be online sellers.

Recovered during the operation were one M4 Carbine caliber 5.56mm automatic rifle with a sniper scope and silencer, a Glock 19 cal. 9mm semi-automatic pistol, two M-16 magazines with 61 live ammunition, two 9mm magazines with 25 bullets, a pair of handcuffs with key, a Taser, a rifle case, eight android phones and an iPod.

Also confiscated by the CIDG-NCR from the suspects were the boodle money topped by a marked P1,000 bill. The serial numbers of the recovered firearms are already being checked by the CIDG-NCRFU with the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office to determine their real owners.

Col. Marantan said they conducted the operation with the support of the NCRPO Regional Intelligence Unit, Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Southern Police District (SPD) under the supervision of Brig. Gen. Jonnel C. Estomo.

“We conducted the sting amid information given to us by an informant regarding a group of Chinese nationals engaged in the illegal gun trafficking and kidnapping of their compatriots,” the official said.

Five of the suspects were arrested while conspiring with each other to sell the guns to a poseur while the three were arrested for trying to prevent the arrest of their fellows by blocking the driveway of their apartment unit using their car and locking the doors.

When finally opened by the officers, the suspects’ unit yielded a cal. .45 pistol with three magazines containing 12 live ammunition, a holster, assorted Chinese ATM cards, two laptop computers, seven android phones and 25 pieces of assorted Security Token Activation and Use Banking Services.

The arrested suspects are facing charges for violation of Republic Act 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulations Act of 2013, RA 8484 or the Access Devices Regulations Act of 1998 and Presidential Decree 1829 or obstruction of justice.

All were apprised of their constitutional rights with the help of a Chinese interpreter. All are now being held at the CIDG-NCRFU lock-up facility in Camp Crame.

The Pasay City operation came amid calls for the incoming Bureau of Immigration leadership to further tighten their watch on undesirable aliens that may enter the country.

In what has turned up to be a case of ‘modern-day slavery and human trafficking,’ PNP agents have uncovered the presence of some unscrupulous Chinese mainlanders who are abducting their fellows and purportedly selling them to POGO companies in Metro Manila or worst, torturing them ‘Yakuza or Mafia-style’ to force their families abroad to pay them huge ransom.

Two months ago, police reports that the seven Chinese nationals recently abducted by their armed countrymates in Quezon City were tortured by the suspects. A video showed one of the blindfolded female victims calling for help from her family.

There was also information that the finger of one of the male captives was cut off by the kidnappers who also threatened to slice off each of the victim’s finger every hour his family failed to heed their monetary demand.

The last information received by the police is that the victims were all released by the kidnappers after paying a hefty ransom demand. However, they refused to file any complaint for fear of further reprisals from the suspects.

The PNP-AKG since last year have arrested dozens of Chinese nationals found to be involved in the kidnapping-for-ransom of their fellows, many of them working in POGO companies or online casinos.

Four other Chinese nationals were also arrested by CIDG-NCRFU agents two months ago for demanding ransom from their captives’ families. A loaded cal. .45 semi-automatic pistol was recovered from the suspects.