PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Officer-in-Charge, Lieutenant General Vicente D. Danao Jr. has ordered his men to go after thousands of Indian nationals preying on their moneyed compatriots who are mostly involved in the illegal ‘5-6’ money-lending business in the country, the Journal Group learned yesterday.

In the early 2000, police arrested a number of Indian nationals who turned out to be ‘tipping off’ kidnapping-for-ransom syndicates about prospective targets in Metro Manila. A spate of kidnapping-for-ransom cases even forced the temporary closure of some Sikh churches in the metropolis until the kidnappers were arrested.

This time, police recorded a number of incidents in which Indian nationals themselves are the ones directly involved in robbing their compatriots involved in loan shark activities.

On Thursday last week, an Indian national identified as Prince Deep Singh was killed in a shootout with a responding police officer in Bamban, Tarlac.

It turned out that Corporal Reynante Baga of the Bamban Municipal Police Station was passing by along Barangay Anupul around 12:25 in the afternoon of June 9 when he noticed a robbery-in-progress in the area involving a lone victim and two men armed with handguns.

Cpl. Baga said that by instinct, he drew his pistol, introduced himself as a police officer to the suspects and asked them to put down their weapons. However, the suspects reportedly pointed their guns at him prompting him to fire hitting Singh who died on the spot.

The other suspect managed to escape on board a motorcycle.

During investigation, the victim identified as Baljiit Singh revealed that the suspects at gunpoint robbed him of the P80,000 cash he was carrying.

“Our police investigators are doing a case follow-up to identify and arrest the other suspect,” said Lt. Gen. Danao as he noted that it was not the first time that Indian suspects had been reported robbing their compatriots in the country.

Last June 7, two Indian nationals identified as Manpreet Singh alias ‘Ricky,’22; and Mandeep Singh alias ‘Jimmy,’33, were arrested by the Las Piñas City police for their alleged involvement in a robbery-holdup incident in the city two days earlier.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director, Major Gen. Felipe R. Natividad said that the two Indian nationals were arrested around 2 a.m. of Wednesday last week in Barangay Marcelo in Parañaque City.

It turned out that the two were the armed men who robbed 32-year old Suchain Singh along Pomelo Street in Bgy. Talon 5 in Las Piñas City. One of them also shot the victim in the back when he resisted before fleeing on board their getaway motorbike with their P20,000 loot.

Maj. Gen. Natividad said that after a review of CCTV footages in the area, the Las Piñas City Police Office headed by Colonel Jaime Santos discovered that the suspects fled on board a black Yamaha motorcycle and were seen along Guyabano St. and Marcos Alvares Avenue.

However, upon reaching the Las Piñas Medical Center, the back rider alighted and boarded a passing taxi with plate no. UWN-786.

Thru the help of some witnesses, local police conducted a follow-up operation which led to the arrest of the two Indian nationals and the recovery of their getaway motorcycle without plate number.

The two are facing criminal charges for robbery-holdup and violation of the Omnibus Election Code in relation to Republic Act 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulations Act of 2013, said Southern Police District director, Brigadier Gen. Jimili L. Macaraeg.

Authorities earlier said the presence of Indian nationals engaged in so-called ‘5-6’ or the illegal lending business in the country have decreased significantly amid the Duterte government’s crackdown on such illegal activity.

Under the ‘5-6’ lending scheme practiced by Indian nationals in the country, a borrower has to pay a 20 percent monthly interest to the Indian money-lenders. Thus, one has to pay P1,200 for a P1,000 loan he got from an Indian loan shark, the interest doubling every month.

Following a directive from President Duterte in 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission launched a crackdown on Indian loan sharks and asked them to update their business registration.

Since many of them are unregistered, there is still no available data on the number of Indian loan sharks in The Philippines although it is believe that there are ‘one or two’ of them operating in every barangay in the country, catering mostly to poor Filipinos, the likes of street vendors and sari-sari store owners who need money to continue their business.

The Bureau of Immigration has also arrested some Indian nationals involved in the ‘5-6’ business in the past. One of them identified as Bahg Singh,48, was tracked down in Bgy. Inchican in Silang, Cavite and placed under arrest for his illegal money-lending activity.

The accused was reportedly caught in the act of collecting money from a store in the said barangay. He got into further trouble with the law after it was discovered that he is an undocumented alien, said Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente.