A casino loan shark has been arrested for falsely imprisoning a male gambler for 30 hours in a hotel guestroom in Cotai, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Kim Fong said during a special press conference yesterday.
The suspect, surnamed Xie, is in his twenties and claims to be jobless.
According to Cheong, upon receiving a report about the unlawful imprisonment from the victim’s friend at about 4 a.m. yesterday, PJ officers were dispatched to a hotel in Cotai, where they arrested Xie.
A PJ investigation shows that Xie and four of his accomplices met the victim in a Cotai hotel on Sunday and lent him HK$150,000 to gamble at a casino, under the condition that he paid HK$10,000 as an upfront “interest” fee and that he agreed to pay an additional 40 percent “interest” on winnings subject to specific conditions. After the victim lost all the money on Monday morning, he was falsely imprisoned until he managed to repay his debt.
In an attempt to recover his losses, the victim borrowed an additional HK$150,000 for gambling, and he lost all that money too, Cheong noted. He was again falsely imprisoned, but this time he found himself unable to repay the debt. He discreetly sent a distress message to a friend, who promptly reported the situation to the police. Xie was arrested in the hotel room, while his accomplices were still on the run at the time of yesterday afternoon’s press conference.
Xie was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of false imprisonment and usury, according to Cheong.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded casino loan sharking suspect to a police vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: William Chan
