Maltese man kidnapped, drugged and abused in China

Sunday newspaper it-Torċa reported that a Maltese elderly, over 60 years, was lured to China to marry a Chinese woman. Friends of the man told it-Torċa that a lot of Maltese are being tempted to go to China, but not to get married.

The newspaper reports that the case goes back to months ago, when the elder used to go to an establishment which offers Chinese massage services. There he made friends with some Chinese people who introduced him to a Chinese woman who at the time was working in Malta.

It seems that the woman left Malta and the man decided to go to China to marry her even though there was a substantial difference in age between the two.

“I can tell you that they try and think of everything to convince you to go to China and get married there,” a friend of the man said. “I have received similar proposals several times, but by time you realise that they are only interested in money.”

The Maltese had left to China in May. When he used to contact his relatives and friends here in Malta he used to say that he could not leave China. Twice he had given details on when he would be coming back, but then he would cancel.

Out of the blue, his relatives were informed that that the man was found in Egypt, without a passport, in critical condition after he was abandoned there. The man soon arrived to Malta and was immediately transferred to Mater Dei.

Friends of the man say that when he came back to Malta, he had lost weight, could not communicate and was mentally unstable due to the drugs he was given and the trauma he had passed through.

A member of the Chinese community told it-Torċa that in China, whereas there are serious agencies which facilitate contacts amongst those who would want to get married, there are other agencies who use girls to seduce men for their money.

“It could be a possibility that the Maltese man was a victim of the so-called broker,” the member said. A broker acts like a medium between the foreign men and the Chinese girls who usually they would not know how to read and write in English.

The member explained that sometimes it is easy to identify those who are acting under false pretences. “Normally you would start receiving messages two or three times a week. She would say that she is interested in messages which are 13 to 20 lines long. Usually she would ask a lot of questions, but would reveal very few, if not any information about her. And you would not know where or how to contact her.”

She explained that the length of the messages was due to translation payment purposes. The brokers would be paying translators to read and write the messages – the more messages the translators send and receive, the more money they earn.

The spokesperson told the newspaper that whilst there were those who ended up as victims, several Maltese who have married Chineseare now happily living together and are members of the community.