Taiwanese rescued from Chinese kidnappers

MANILA, Philippines — A Taiwanese man was rescued by police officers from two Chinese men who detained him in a hotel room in Pasay City over P200,000 unpaid debt, police said yesterday.

 Chin-Wei Liu, 38, borrowed the money from Ning Liu, 37, and Zhu Yizhi, 43, but lost all of it at the casino of Resorts World Manila, police said.

The two men kept Chin-Wei in a room at Maxims Hotel starting at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. The victim called up an unidentified Taiwanese friend to borrow money in order to pay the suspects.

His friend, however, sought assistance from the Taiwanese embassy, which called the Pasay City police for help.

Police officers rescued him at around 6 p.m., four hours after the suspects detained him.

The suspects face charges of slight illegal detention.

Chinese loan shark syndicates have been reported to kidnap gamblers and force their families to pay the victims’ debts.