Philippine police have rescued a 14-year-old Chinese student who was abducted by a criminal gang led by Chinese nationals.
The gang had brutally murdered his driver and severed a part of his finger to pressure his family into paying a hefty ransom, officials said on Wednesday.
According to interior secretary Jonvic Remulla, the student’s parents refused to comply with the kidnappers’ demands.
As law enforcement closed in on their getaway vehicle, the gang panicked and abandoned the teenager on a busy street in metropolitan Manila on Tuesday night.
Some of the kidnappers were identified as former Filipino police officers and soldiers.
The abduction of the student on 20 February, shortly after he left his British school in Manila, had caused widespread alarm due to its violence.
Mr Remulla told reporters both the student’s family and the Chinese mastermind behind the kidnapping were reportedly involved in highly profitable online gambling operations, which thrived under former president Rodrigo Duterte but were shut down last year by his successor Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The online gambling outfits, which operated in the Philippines, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries, catered to large numbers of clients in China, where gambling is prohibited.
"We know that this crime involved a Chinese against a Chinese,” Mr Remulla said, adding that the student’s family and the kidnappers communicated in Chinese via the WeChat app.
After the closure of illegal gambling outfits in the Philippines, some turned to other crimes, including kidnapping, Mr Remulla said. Officials said online cryptocurrency sites, love and investment scams remained a threat.
In a bid to pressure the student’s family to pay a ransom of $20m, which was later reduced to $1m, the kidnappers cut off the tip of the small finger in the victim’s right hand and sent a video of the gruesome act to his parents, Mr Remulla said.
The student’s driver was killed and later found in an abandoned vehicle, where crucial evidence, including cellphone numbers, were found. The suspects apparently tried to leave the vehicle in a haste, Mr Remulla said. The kidnappers have been identified and were being hunted, Mr Remulla and police officials said.
