The National Bureau of Investigation's Cybercrime Division entered several apartment units in Parañaque City under a search warrant, discovering they were allegedly operating hidden scam centers after their POGO licenses had expired.
Arti stated, "The structure of online gambling companies from the business environment fragmented into smaller groups, and then their operations were either in residential units or apartment units to evade law enforcement actions."
However, when the police dealt with these Chinese citizens, it is alleged that one suspect offered them the capability to provide ransom for the release of each suspect.
Therefore, the NBI immediately launched a sting operation in their parking lot.
After they received the bags of money, they immediately knocked down and arrested the briber.
"Their boss had a lawyer call us, proposing to pay 300,000 pesos per person to release these employees. My agents took a gamble and collected 1.5 million pesos for the first five released," said NBI Director Jaime Santiago.
The arrested briber refused to provide information about where he got the bribe money and who ordered him to deliver it to the NBI.
The suspect was jailed for crimes including public official corruption, forgery of public documents, and illegal use of aliases.
Another 17 suspects have also been jailed. The NBI is contacting the immigration bureau to confirm their names and documents.
