The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested four men from the mainland on Sunday for usury and falsely imprisoning a gambler, PJ spokesman Lei Chi Hou said during a special press conference yesterday.
Lei identified the suspects as a 42-year-old farmer surnamed Zhang, a 33-year-old male surnamed Li, a 36-year-old male surnamed Huo and a 23-year-old male surnamed Xue who told the police that they are jobless.
According to Lei, the police received a report from a male gambler from the mainland on Sunday afternoon that he was being held against his will in a hotel guestroom in Cotai due to debts from high-interest gambling loans.
According to the victim’s statement to the police, he contacted a man, who remained at large at the time of the press conference, to borrow money on Friday. That man then introduced him to Zhang from whom he could borrow money. After negotiating the terms with the man, who was not named by Lei, and Zhang in the victim’s hotel guestroom, they agreed on a loan of HK$1 million, with 20 percent of the bets of each winning round to be taken as “interest”. The gambler signed an IOU.
The unnamed man and Zhang then accompanied the victim to gamble in a casino in Cotai, where the unnamed man handed the gambler HK$1 million in chips. After the victim gambled away all the borrowed money, he was taken to his guestroom by Zhang. Early Sunday morning, Zhang took the victim to another hotel guestroom in Cotai. Zhang then told the victim to hand over his ID card to prevent him from escaping. At 7 a.m. that day, Zhang called Li, Huo and Xue to the guestroom, where the victim was held against his will. The suspects then took turns guarding the victim. At about 3 a.m., the victim found the opportunity to report the case to the casino public relations who then called the police for help.
The police later arrested Zhang, Li, Huo and Xue in the guestroom, seizing four mobile phones and multiple blank IOUs.
Lei noted that the victim was charged HK$800,000 in “interest” and was held for eight hours. Under questioning, all suspects refused to cooperate.
The four suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of false imprisonment and usury.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the four hooded suspects to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Ada Lei
