A Chinese crime wave hits Duterte’s Philippines as Pogos grow unchecked
- An upswing in licences for offshore gaming firms has seen the Philippines become a ‘haven for Chinese criminals and criminal syndicates’
- With 67 gambling-related kidnappings since 2017, why is the Duterte administration having trouble cracking down on the situation?
On the night of December 9 in Manila’s posh Makati district, a woman was pulled screaming into a van, which zoomed away in view of shocked witnesses. Police later identified the victim as Zhou Mei, from China – and the kidnappers were fellow nationals, making the case the latest in a long string of abductions involving and perpetrated by mainland Chinese.
The Philippines is becoming a haven for Chinese criminals and criminal syndicates
There have been 67 gambling-related kidnappings since 2017, with nearly all the victims Chinese, according to the Philippine National Police Anti-kidnapping Group (PNP AKG). Ang-See, however, said the figure was much higher than that. “Before, it was once a month, twice a month, then it became once a week, twice a week. [Now] it’s two to three cases involving Chinese everyday in Metro Manila.”