Two casino loan sharks from the mainland have been arrested for falsely imprisoning a male gambler for 2 1/2 hours in a hotel guestroom in the city centre, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Cheong Kim Fong said during a special press conference yesterday.
The suspects, surnamed Deng and Li, are in their twenties and thirties respectively. Deng claimed to be unemployed, while Li claimed to be a businessman.
According to Cheong, upon receiving a report about the unlawful imprisonment from the victim’s friend at about 4 p.m. on Friday, PJ officers were dispatched to the hotel, where they arrested the duo and rescued the victim.
A PJ investigation showed that the duo met the victim in a casino in the city centre last Thursday and lent him HK$50,000 to gamble with there, under the condition that he paid HK$3,000 as upfront “interest” and that he agreed to pay an additional 20 percent “interest” each time he won. After the victim lost all the money, he was taken to the hotel room and falsely imprisoned, during which he managed to discreetly send a distress message to a friend, who promptly reported his predicament to the police who rescued the victim.
Under questioning, the duo admitted to the crime. Cheong noted that the police were still investigating other possible accomplices.
The duo have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of false imprisonment and usury, according to Cheong.
