Police nab 5 for injecting French man with drug, stealing P96,000

Makati police on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, presented five suspects accused of injecting a French man with a drug and stealing P96,000 cash from him. (Photo by Jason Sigales/INQUIRER.net)

MANILA, Philippines — Five individuals were arrested for allegedly injecting a French man with a drug and stealing P96,000 from him, the Makati City police said Wednesday, May 28.

Law enforcers caught the suspects in an operation in Intramuros, Manila on Tuesday, Southern Police District (SPD) Director Brig. Gen. Joseph Arguelles said in a press conference on Wednesday.

Arguelles said the incident took place last Sunday in front of a restaurant along Gil Puyat Avenue in Barangay Palanan.

Makati City police chief Col. Jean Dela Torre said the French man was walking to the restaurant when three of the suspects approached him.

“They spoke to him, told him about some of the beautiful places in the Philippines, and mentioned that he’s free to ask or say where he wants to go, they’re willing to help him visit other places he’s interested in,” Dela Torre said at the press conference.

The three suspects then got in a vehicle bound for a church in Intramuros with the victim and met up with the other two suspects, she added.

“When they got the chance, they injected him with a dizzying chemical. When he woke up, his items were gone, his cellphone and cash worth P96,000,” Arguelles explained.

The victim found himself abandoned in the car, Dela Torre said.

According to Arguelles and Dela Torre, the authorities and the victim managed to locate the suspects through a tracking application on his smartphone.

The five suspects were now at the Makati City Police Station undergoing inquest proceedings, according to Arguelles.

They face a case of violating Article 293 of the Revised Penal Code, which pertains to robbery.