Text blasters owned by Chinese found in Quezon City

MANILA, Philippines —  Authorities discovered text blasters and other scamming devices owned by a Chinese national after a fire broke out at his rented house in Quezon City on Tuesday.

Probers are conducting an investigation after nine text blasters were found in a three-story house along Sampaguita street in Barangay Batasan Hills.

Apart from the text blasters, which are commonly used in scamming activities, Quezon City Police District officer-in-charge Col. Randy Glenn Silvio said lawmen also recovered three desktop computers, two central processing units, a Huawei router, a laptop, a cell phone and 5,757 subscriber identity module cards.

Silvio said they found a Chinese passport bearing the name of an alias Liu, a resident of Chongqing, China.

A probe is ongoing to find out if Liu is involved in activities that pose a threat to national security, Silvio said.

Police have yet to obtain evidence that would show that the Chinese is involved in espionage.

“But there are indications that he was recruiting people on social media,” Silvio said.

The Chinese national rented the third floor of the house on April 3.

Liu was not at the house when the fire broke out as he was on a three-day vacation, the Bureau of Fire Protection said.

Records from the Bureau of Immigration showed that Liu arrived in the Philippines on Feb. 23.

Silvio said they are coordinating with concerned government agencies in looking for the Chinese national.