The media across the Philippines is flooded with news of "catching a big fish in the online gambling industry."
The main source of information comes from the public release by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), where spokesperson Cruz emphasized that after eight months of arduous reconnaissance, risking their lives, they finally apprehended a Chinese citizen named Lyu Dong, known as the head or "boss of bosses" of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos), and on Thursday night in Biñan, Laguna, along with 12 other Chinese nationals and their Filipino accomplices.
PAOCC also disclosed many details of the crimes committed by those arrested, such as their connections with Lucky South 99, behind-the-scenes contacts with Guo Huaping, and offering bounties on government officials, which significantly captured public attention.
Due to the capture of the "big fish," the official stance has been overwhelmingly jubilant, with Senator Hong Tivieros, who has been relentlessly pursuing POGOs, stating: "The arrest of 'big boss' Lyu Dong is a major victory in combating domestic POGO and fraud center crime planners."
However, as more information is disclosed, many netizens feel something is amiss. Particularly, the interview video of "Lyu Dong" at the arrest scene, along with two leaked passport photos, and some official statements, have raised many doubts: Is the person arrested really the "Lyu Dong" the authorities were after? On various social media platforms, there is a lot of curious discussion and analysis by concerned netizens.
Overall, netizens believe there are suspicious aspects, mainly analyzed from the following points:
1. First, netizens generally believe that China's household registration system is strict, and it is unlikely for the arrested person, despite being highly capable, to obtain two genuine and valid Chinese passports. Therefore, it is highly probable that both passports are real, meaning there indeed exists a person named "Lyu Dong" and another named "Lin Xunhan."
2. From the revealed passport photos, "Lyu Dong" and "Lin Xunhan" appear quite different in appearance. "Lyu Dong" has a more square or rectangular face, while "Lin Xunhan," despite having chubby cheeks, has a more pointed chin, overall resembling a round face with a small melon seed shape; "Lyu Dong" has sparse eyebrows with a gentle curve, "Lin Xunhan" has dense eyebrows with a strong bend, showing significant differences in eyebrow shape; in terms of nose shape, "Lyu Dong" is more contracted, "Lin Xunhan" more expanded; and regarding the mouth, "Lyu Dong" has thicker lower lips, "Lin Xunhan" has a distinctly small triangular contracted lower lip. Including their ears, from a proportional perspective, "Lyu Dong's" ears are clearly larger than "Lin Xunhan's." Among all facial features, only their eyes show some similarities. However, many netizens believe that if these two were to stand together, they would definitely not mistake them for looking alike. But it is also considered that Filipinos might not have as clear a recognition of Chinese facial features as the Chinese themselves.
3. The second point also reconfirms the first: If one of the passports is a privately forged one, the arrested person should have used the same person's photo with a different identity; assuming the arrested person indeed managed to obtain two valid real passports, they could also use the same person's photo with a different identity. In any case, there is no reason to use a photo of a person with not so high similarity for their backup passport. Therefore, the chances that "Lyu Dong" and "Lin Xunhan" are two different people are extremely high.
4. According to the official statement, the arrested person was caught at a party scene, just as he was about to leave to drive and buy something. This point, combined with the recent intense pursuit of Guo Huaping and others in the Philippines, seems particularly hard to understand. As the "boss of bosses" that everyone is searching for, who usually keeps a low profile and has proxies appear in various situations without leaving a name, only a nickname, why would he raise his profile and increase the risk of arrest at this time?
5. According to an initial statement by spokesperson Cruz, "Lyu Dong" is from Hunan, China. This statement seems to indicate that the Philippine side initially regarded "Lyu Dong" as the real identity of the arrested person, therefore relying on the information presented by "Lyu Dong's" Hunan passport. However, from the conversation video between an ABS-CBN reporter and the arrested person at the scene, the arrested person's accent does not sound like a Hunan accent. The related video is as follows, which everyone can feel for themselves; Filipinos might not be able to perceive it, but for Chinese people choosing between a Hunan accent and a Fujian accent, the latter seems more likely, suggesting that the passport information of "Lin Xunhan" might be closer to the real identity of the arrested person.
Subsequently, in later announcements, PAOCC provided the "two passports" narrative, suggesting that the real identity of "Lyu Dong" is "Lin Xunhan."
But this has aroused the curiosity of netizens: before the arrest, did the officials know about the existence of the identity "Lin Xunhan," or was it only discovered at the arrest scene when they found this passport? If they knew, why was there initially a statement that the arrested person was from Hunan? If they didn't know, could it be that the police were after the real "Lyu Dong" behind the Hunan passport? Could the police have arrested the wrong person? Or could "Lyu Dong" and "Lin Xunhan" be in a cooperative relationship rather than simply using each other's names? In this cat-and-mouse game, could there be a possibility that this is simply a huge smokescreen?
6. Another very emotional analysis is that many netizens find it hard to connect the "clear" state of the person in the video with a super boss who built a multi-billion black empire from scratch in just eight years, thus generating more "scapegoat" suspicions.
To clarify these questions, it seems necessary to wait for PAOCC to thoroughly review their "eight months of hard work" to see if it was solid enough, and the interrogation of the arrested person to have a preliminary conclusion. As for who "Lyu Dong" and "Lin Xunhan" really are, whether they have any original criminal records in China, and whether these two passports are genuine or fake, the answers to these questions cannot be revealed without the support and cooperation from the Chinese side.
Since China has always firmly supported the Philippines in cracking down on the gambling black and gray industries, it is believed that this time they will continue to cooperate closely to help the Philippine side quickly clarify the true identities of the relevant personnel.
So, after reading all this diverse news, what do you think about the person who was arrested? Has the real mastermind already escaped unnoticed?
