FOUR Chinese nationals believed to be members of an organized kidnapping group were killed in a shootout with police in a subdivision in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu on Monday evening, May 30, 2022.
The Anti-Kidnapping Group in Central Visayas (AKG 7), Regional Intelligence Division-Regional Special Operations Group, and the City Intelligence Unit of Lapu-Lapu launched an operation against the suspects who allegedly kidnapped 70-year-old Chinese national Lyu Xingou.
Police Lt. Zosimo Ravanes, deputy chief of the AKG 7, related that as their personnel entered the house rented by the suspects, they were met by gunfire. A shootout ensued, resulting in the suspects’ deaths.
Killed were Lin Heng, You Yiping, Li Fengqiang and Gong Jinming.
The kidnap victim, a native of Fujian, China, was rescued by the policemen from the same house.
He was unharmed but physically weak and was brought to the hospital for treatment.
Mayor Junard Chan, who later arrived at the scene, described the victim as a businessman who invested in Mactan Newtown, a 28.8-hectare mega-community that has high-end office towers, luxury condominiums, leisure amenities, retail shops, upscale hotels and a school.
Ravanes believes the suspects may have had links with those involved in the abduction of another Chinese national last May 7 in Barangay Mactan in the same city since their targets were both investors of Mactan Newtown.
In the May 7 operation, two Chinese nationals were arrested while their victim was rescued. Ravanes said the suspects came from Manila.
Last May 25, Lyu was snatched from his garage in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City by a gun-toting Chinese-speaking man and forced into a black Toyota Innova.
On learning of the incident, police checked the CCTV cameras starting from Barangay Lahug and learned that the victim had been brought to a subdivision in Lapu-Lapu City.
The subdivision's guards helped police locate the hideout of the suspects.
The family of the victim, however, had already paid a ransom of 500,000 Chinese yuan, which is equivalent to P3.9 million, to his abductors before the rescue operation took place.
The kidnappers had initially demanded a higher amount, but the family used the time in which they said they would seek to come up with the rest of the money, to seek the help of police instead.
Mayor Chan told SunStar Cebu that he did not consider the incident a threat to the peace and order situation in the city.
He, however, urged his constituents to immediately report any suspicious persons and activities in their areas to police.
Chan credited the city's police force and other police units for the successful rescue operation.
It was learned from the mayor that the four Chinese nationals had already used up three months of the four-month rent contract for their hideout apartment in Bankal.
In March 2020, police rescued three Chinese nationals in Barangay Mactan and arrested their two kidnappers, also Chinese nationals, who were their fellow employees in a Philippine offshore gaming operator in Lapu-Lapu City. (BBT, AYB, GPL, TPT)