Arrest turns violent after Chinese man attacks NBI agents

Three agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) were physically attacked by a Chinese man during an entrapment operation in Paranaque City.

In John Consulta’s exclusive report on “24 Oras” on Tuesday, the incident occurred against members of the NBI Criminal Intelligence Division inside a building in Parañaque City.

Video showed one NBI agent backing away after he was punched in the face by one of the Chinese men.

Authorities had difficulty in arresting the Chinese man after his violent outburst after his companion was being arrested.

“Nagulat kami. Lumaban. Nanakit ng mga agents natin. Very bothering yung ginagawa nung isang suspect na lumaban sa mga otoridad kasi parang hindi na niya kinakatakutan ang local authorities. Hindi na sila natakot kahit alam nila otoridad,” said Noel Bocaling, NBI Intelligence Service assistant director.

(We were caught off guard because he fought back and hurt our agents. What he did was very bothering because it seemed like he was not afraid of local authorities.)

“It took at least three men to subdue the said person pero kung unarmed, you will practice maximum tolerance din pagdating sa ganyan. Huliin mo talaga kaya tatlong agents dyan ang nasaktan,” he added.

(It took at least three men to subdue the said person, but he was unarmed, [so] you will practice maximum tolerance in this case. You need to arrest them, but in the process three of our agents got hurt.)

According to the NBI, one of the Chinese men is facing a complaint for allegedly keeping the complainant’s passport as ransom.

“Passport na ayaw isuli and the passport will be returned for a fee kaya pumunta kami doon in an entrapment operation. Naghanda kami ng pera, ng marked money, para ibayad and then after dun, ang plano huliin,” Bocaling said.

(The suspect will only return the complainant’s passport if he pays the fee, so we prepared marked money for the entrapment operation and the plan was to capture him.)

The two Chinese men refused to comment on the matter. Both are facing robbery-extortion charges plus direct assault. —Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA Integrated News