Five Chinese nationals have been charged with various offences at the Dublin District Court this afternoon. Three men - Xiu Be Wen, Xiu Hui, and Juo Jia - were charged with robbery. Liu Xing was charged with robbery and assault causing harm and false imprisonment, and Meng Yi was charged in relation to an existing bench warrant. They have all been remanded in custody to appear before the District Court on Thursday and have been granted free legal aid and the services of a translator.
The men were arrested after detectives raided a two-bedroom apartment in East Essex Street in Dublin's Temple Bar early yesterday morning. They freed another Chinese man, whom they found inside tied to a chair and claiming he had been abducted and beaten. The raid was the result of an investigation by the Garda National Bureau of Immigration into kidnapping and extortion within the Chinese community here. Seven of the twelve Chinese arrested, including the two women, were freed last night and files on them are to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
