Authorities in the Philippines have disrupted a major kidnapping gang that was abducting high-rolling gamblers from Manila casinos.

On Thursday, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) had detained 45 foreigners suspected of operating a kidnapping ring responsible for a string of abductions of international tourists from local casinos in recent months.

On Tuesday, the BI’s Fugitive Search Unit and the PNP’s Anti-Kidnapping Group conducted raids that resulted in the detention of 26 foreigners suspected of involvement in the kidnapping ring. A follow-up raid netted a further 19 suspects, none of whom were willing to identify themselves or able to show legal immigration documents.

In the course of the original raids, the authorities freed a Singaporean woman identified as Wu Yan, who said she’d been forcibly abducted while visiting the Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila. Wu said her four kidnappers – three men and one woman – took her to a room at the Bayview International Towers, where she was beaten and threatened with worse if she didn’t give them P9m (US $180k).