OPERATIVES of the Paranaque police rescued an abducted Vietnamese and arrested three Chinese in an operation at a residential resort in Tambo, Paranaque City last Tuesday night.
Southern Police District Director Brig. General Leon Victor Rosete identified the victim only as Lang, 23, while the arrested suspects were also identified by their aliases Jun, Hao and Zhang.
Rosete said the operation that led to the rescue of Lang stemmed from a report from the resort’s securi-ty personnel to the Tambo police substation regarding a kidnapping incident.
Acting on the report, the police proceeded to a condo unit inside the resort where they rescued the vic-tim and nabbed the suspects.
During the operation, the police recovered one Taurus 9mm pistol with four live bullets, one C2 PO7 9mm caliber pistol with seven bullets, one Black Widow 22 magnum revolver, various ammunition, in-cluding seven 9mm rounds and one 12 gauge round, P236,000 in cash, several electronic devices, in-cluding an Apple iPad, Apple MacBook Air, and seven iPhones, one Chinese passport (alias Liu) and one Vietnamese passport (Dong), a set of LTO vehicle license plates (CBP7996), one Matte Black Ford Ranger Sport, 76 suspected ecstasy tablets with an estimated value of P129,200 and suspected shabu valued at P34,000.
Rosete said the initial investigation showed the victim was engaged in a money exchange services busi-ness in Manila catering to Chinese and other foreigners.
At about 12:20 a.m. last Tuesday, the victim, a female, was contacted by a Chinese named Zhang through the Telegram online platform to meet at a condo residence in Tambo, Parañaque to exchange Vietnamese currency for Philippine peso.
Upon her arrival, she was met by Jun, another Chinese, and they proceeded to one of the units in the establishment.
Inside the unit, one of the Chinese identified as alias Hao suddenly threatened the victim with a knife and forcibly took her cell phone.
“She was held against her will and threatened with death if she did not comply with the suspects’ de-mands. The victim was then transported for almost two hours to an unknown location before being brought to another condo in Parañaque on board a Ford Ranger,” the police official said.
Upon arrival at the second location, the victim was held at gunpoint and the suspects took another iPh-one from her. They also forcibly obtained her phone password and facial ID to access her online bank account.
The suspects then transferred her money amounting to 8,940,000,000 Vietnamese dong, equivalent to approximately P20 million, to another account.
The suspects also stole P300,000 in cash and several pieces of jewelry worth P1 million from her.
After taking the money and jewelry, the victim was transferred to a residential resort in Tambo where police said she was illegally detained and physically abused by the suspects.
The victim managed to escape after the suspect guarding him fell asleep. His companions temporarily left.
The victim sought assistance from the resort’s security, who reported the incident to the Tambo police, leading to her rescue and the arrest of the three suspects.
The suspects face multiple charges, including robbery, grave coercion, illegal detention, and violations of Republic Act 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunitions Act) and RA 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) before the Paranaque City prosecutors’ office.
