Forty-three illegal immigrants were rescued in a Peru house, after being held against their will by members of a criminal organization called “the Red Dragon of Taiwan”. The hostages had been convinced to leave their home country to work in Peru in a call center, not knowing they would be participating in the criminal group’s extortion racket.
On the 9th of October, the Judiciary of Peru announced that eight detainees would be receiving “one week of preliminary detention for aggravated assault of 42 Asian citizens.” These eight implicated individuals were arrested on the 7th of October by the Peruvian police in a house allegedly used for extortive calls, “on the presumption of illegal trafficking of immigrants for the end of exploitation.”
The arrest occurred in the neighborhood of La Planicie, El Molino, a district of the province of Lima, where the house controlled by the detainees’ was located.
On the day of the arrest, two women who claimed to have escaped from the house informed the police that 40 other people were still being held. Later that day, the police arrested 2 Peruvian men who tried to prevent the police’s entry into the house, and then the six men linked to the Red Dragon of Taiwan.
Of the hostages, 42 were Malaysian and one was Taiwanese.
In searching the house, the police found evidence that these hostages had been brought to make calls to extort Malaysians for money, using phone scams. The police seized 50 mobile phones, 15,000 Peruvian soles (3,900 dollars) and 10,000 dollars in cash at the house.
The Malaysian Embassy confirmed the story and reported that they made a consular visit to Peru to confirm the health of the victims. It mentioned they were victims of the Macau Scam syndicate, a group described by Malaysian authorities as impersonating banks or public officials to trick people into disclosing personal banking details or transferring money into another third-party account.
It was reported by El Comercio and other Peruvian media that one of the hostages had been signaled missing by the Malaysian government. He had told his family he “had received a job offer” in Peru. This individual reportedly lost contact with his family hours after flying from Amsterdam, arriving in Peru on September 26th.
