Two men from the mainland were arrested on September 20 for alleged loan sharking, holding a person against his will and attacking him in a flat in the city centre on September 18, a Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson announced last week.
The two jobless suspects are a 29-year-old surnamed Liu and a 23-year-old surnamed Pu.
According to the spokesperson, a male victim from the mainland had asked a friend for assistance to inform the police on September 19 that he was forced to stay in a flat because he owed gambling debts. The spokesperson said that after the victim gambled away all of his money at a casino resort hotel in Cotai on September 18, he met Liu and Pu who urged him to borrow money from them. The victim agreed to borrow HK$100,000, of which HK$5,000 would be deducted right away as an “interest” payment and to pay 20 percent “interest” for each of his winnings. He had to surrender his ID as well as smartphone as collateral and sign an IOU.
The spokesperson said that Liu and Pu accompanied the victim to another casino hotel in Cotai to gamble but he had gambled all the money away at about 6 a.m. and HK$50,000 “interest” had been taken while he was gambling. The victim was unable to repay the debt and the suspects held him against his will in a private flat and beat him, urging him to repay his debt.
According to the spokesperson, the victim managed to secretly contact his friend at about 2 a.m. on the next day via a smartphone app, asking him to inform the police about his plight. PJ officers identified the suspects and arrested them on September 20 in the flat. The officers got hold of the victim’s ID and IOU he signed for his instant gambling loan.
The two suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing various charges such as casino loan sharking, physical assault and false imprisonment, according to the spokesperson.
