Police repulsed a daring bid by armed men to rescue a Chinese inmate who was in a van of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) along a service road of the Manila ? Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) in Barangay San Dionisio on Monday afternoon.

The armed men, who were on board a Mitsubishi Xpander multi-purpose vehicle and a black sedan, opened fire at the BJMP van.

BJMP officers fired back and an officer was hit on his right shoulder. An elite police team arrived and the gunmen fled, said National Capital Region Police Office director Maj. Gen. Anthony Aberin said.

Six suspects, two Chinese nationals and four Filipinos, were arrested. Police are hunting for five other gunmen.

The BJMP van was transporting Hu Yang, 37, a Chinese inmate, back to the bureau’s detention facility in Barangay La Huerta after attending a hearing on his kidnapping case at the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 235.

The BJMP identified the suspects as James Lasam, 28, Jerry Ecalde, 30, Jerome Salvador, 31, John Paul China, 51, and Chinese men Yang Yang Shin, 25, and Wang Hongjie, 25.

They are facing cases of frustrated murder, attempted murders, violations of Republic Act 10591, or the Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition, the Omnibus Election Code, and the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act before the Paranaque prosecutor’s office. DMS