BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – Eight more Chinese were caught conducting alleged extraction of black sand or magnetite in Cagayan’s northern coastal Gonzaga town Thursday, reports said.
However, reports showed that the Chinese have been released from police custody after they were allegedly able to show documents of their legal stay in the country as well as to engage in such activity, although it was already suspended by authorities last year.
Reports identified the nabbed foreigners as Yuangcuan Dong, Jurry Tagnia, Hanzi Pong, Daiyen Nie, Faneng You, Anguo Tian, Ziaong Han and Zhizhong Wang.
They were reportedly caught by police operatives from Gonzaga town and the regional intelligence division while conducting black sand mining along the coast of Gonzaga’s Barangay Batangan around 5 p.m. Thursday.
A police official in the region, however, confirmed the release of the Chinese reportedly on orders of higher authorities.