PAOCC rescues 35 foreigners from illegal POGO

A raid that saved nearly three dozen Indonesians from detention at the barracks of a former Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) site also saved the life of a Chinese national held and tortured by members of a kidnapping syndicate at a nearby safe house.

- By EJ MACABABBAD

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) received a distress call on Thursday from an Indonesian who claimed that a group headed by former POGO "big boss" Liu Meng locked 34 of them inside a dormitory at the Kanlaon Tower in Pasay.

Liu reportedly got angry after the Indonesians – former POGO workers whose contracts were terminated on Jan. 21 – refused to join her in Cambodia and pleaded instead to be allowed to return to their homeland.

"We were able to find the two bosses, Liu Meng, and her administrative officer. When we showed their pictures to the 34 victims, they specifically identified Liu Meng to be the big boss and they said that the guy in black, the administrative officer, was the one holding their passports," PAOCC spokesman Winston Casio told reporters at a briefing yesterday.

One of the rescued Indonesians said he was clueless as to why they would go to Cambodia.

During initial interviews, the victims informed authorities that a Chinese national was being tortured inside a room at the Marina Seaview Residences, according to Casio.

The Southern Police District and Pasay City Police Station conducted an operation early yesterday where they rescued Peter (not his real name) and arrested three of his kidnappers, allegedly part of a syndicate.