The Judiciary Police (PJ) busted a casino loansharking case on Friday, arresting a man and two women from the mainland, PJ spokesman Chao Teng Hin said at a regular press conference yesterday.
The 44-year-old male suspect surnamed Zhuang, the 35-year-old female suspect surnamed Tang, and the 30-year-old female suspect surnamed Duan, told the police that they are jobless.
According to Chao, the police received a call from a man on Friday who reported that his friend, a middle-aged man from the mainland, was being held against his will in a hotel guest room in Cotai due to debts from high-interest loans.
Around 4 a.m. on Friday, the victim had borrowed HK$200,000 from a person, who is now a fugitive, at a casino under the following terms: the victim had to pay 30 percent of the winnings of each bet as “interest”. He had to write down his personal information and provide a fingerprint on a piece of paper. And each bet could not exceed HK$30,000.
The fugitive accompanied the victim and collected “interest” while the suspect Tang monitored the gambling. After losing all his money, the victim was taken to the hotel guestroom by Zhuang, Tang, and Duan where he was held against his will. However, the victim took the opportunity to call his family for help, and his friend reported the case to the police later that day. The police intercepted the victim afterwards as he was leaving the room with Tang and Duan and arrested them, and they also arrested Zhuang who was still in the room. Chao did not say why the victim and his captors were leaving the room when the police arrived there.
Chao noted that the victim was charged HK$70,000 in “interest” and was held for 3 hours and 30 minutes. The police confiscated a mobile phone and HK$8,000 from Tang.
The suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of false imprisonment and usury, according to Chao.
