A SUSPECTED Chinese member of a kidnap gang preying on foreigners in Central Luzon fatally shot himself while three of his compatriots were arrested during an operation in Pampanga last Friday by operatives from the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the incident occurred inside the premises of a condominium building in Angeles City where a team of agents from the BI’s fugitive search unit raided the suspects’ unit to arrest them for violating Philippine immigration laws.
Tansingco said that instead of giving themselves up the aliens ran away and attempted to flee, which prompted the BI operatives to chase them.
The pursuing agents were able to catch and arrest two of the suspects, identified as Feng Zhengheng, 29, and Chou Yibo, 33. However, their companion, a certain Wu Fu Wen, 35, refused to surrender and instead shot himself with a single bullet, which killed him on the spot.
An overstaying Chinese woman, identified as Wang Yan, 25, was also arrested after the arresting team encountered her during the operation.
According to Tansingco, the Chinese nationals are prime suspects in the murder of nine foreigners whose bodies were dumped in different areas in Pampanga several months ago. Six of those murdered are Chinese nationals while the three others are from Vietnam, Malaysia and Japan.
Tansingco said the Chinese nationals arrested will be charged with deportation cases for overstaying their tourist visas.
All three of them reportedly arrived in the Philippines in 2019 and did not depart since then. They did not bother to apply for extension of their stay in the country.
“They will remain in our detention facility until the criminal cases filed against them are resolved by the court as they will also be facing deportation charges,” the BI chief said.
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