453 rounded up in POGO hub raid

MANILA, Philippines — At least 453 foreigners and Filipinos were rounded up during a raid on a suspected Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub allegedly being run by Chinese nationals in Parañaque City on Thursday night.

Gilbert Cruz, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission executive director, said joint teams from PAOCC, the Department of Justice, Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines swooped down on the POGO facility inside the ATI building, located in front of the Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) along Kennedy Avenue in Barangay Tambo.

Cruz said 137 of the foreigners are Chinese, three Vietnamese, two Thais, two Malaysians, one Indonesian and one Taiwanese. At least 307 were Filipino.

The POGO hub, he said, was engaged in an investment scam based on fixed stock exchange trading, love scam and sports betting scam targeting Chinese and Indian nationals.

Based on the permits issued by the city government and the barangay, the POGO hub has been operating as an entertainment entity for about a year.

Cruz said they were surprised as they were only expecting a small guerrilla-type POGO operation.

Instead the facility occupied two floors of the building, an indication of the size of its operation despite the order of President Marcos banning the online gaming industry.

According to Cruz, some of the Filipinos were found working in a grocery within the building while others were maintenance workers.