A robbery suspect was arrested in a police entrapment operation conducted by personnel of the Parañaque City Police Station following a reported hold-up incident along Santos Street in Barangay Tambo, Parañaque City on Friday night.

The victims were identified as Joei, 49, Filipino; Zhang, 38, Chinese national; Qiao, 43, Chinese national; and Jimmy, 30, Malaysian national—all residents of this city.

Investigation showed that the victims and suspects gathered for a traditional pre-Chinese New Year celebration when the suspects, through force and intimidation, suddenly declared a hold-up and took the victims’ personal belongings before fleeing the area.

Stolen items included several high-value cellular phones, luxury bags, and cash amounting to approximately P280,000, all of which remain unrecovered.

Further investigation revealed that the suspects later contacted the victims and demanded P120,000 in exchange for the return of the stolen mobile phones. This prompted Tambo Police Sub-Station 2 to conduct a coordinated entrapment operation, which resulted in the successful arrest of alias Xing, 37, male, customer service, Chinese national, in a Condominium, Barangay Tambo, at around 6:30 AM on 14 February, Sunday.

The arrested suspect is now under police custody and was informed of the nature of his arrest and apprised of his constitutional rights.

Meanwhile, one alias “Tie Zhu” and three other unidentified male Chinese nationals remain at large.