Another Criminal PNP Officers, 3 Korean golfers also ‘tokhang-for-ransom’ victims

The ashes of kidnapped South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo (left) were reportedly
found at Gream Funeral Services, a crematorium owned by a former police officer

Three South Korean tourists who are golfers were a victim of hoodlum Philippine Policemen they robbed and extorted money from them and senior police officer said that they suspected larger racket targeting tourists from these wayward cops.

The announcement fueled fears of police abuse under the cover of President Duterte’s deadly war on crime, after authorities announced last week that policemen murdered a South Korean businessman then extorted money from his wife.

“They came to the Philippines just to play golf but they went through a traumatic experience,” said Chief Supt. Aaron Aquino, a regional police head.

He said the three South Koreans were staying at an upscale gated community in Angeles City, Pampanga province, when policemen barged into their house under the pretext of carrying out an illegal gambling raid last December 30, 2016.

They robbed the Koreans of their computers, jewelry, golf clubs, golf shoes and P10,000, according to Aquino. He said the three South Koreans were then held at a police station for about 8 hours until a friend paid P300,000 for their freedom.

The three victims reported the incident to the South Korean Embassy, which informed the Philippine National Police, Aquino said.

This led to an investigation that found seven policemen were involved, according to Aquino, who said the men faced dismissal from service.

However, he said the offending officers would not face criminal charges because that would require the South Koreans, who had left the country, to return to the Philippines.
“They don’t want to come back. They are terrified,” he said.

The crime happened in the same gated subdivision where policemen abducted a South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo last October. He was abducted in a fake antidrug operation he was strangled to death inside Camp Crame, the PNP national headquarters in Quezon City, but his wife, thinking he was alive, later paid about P5 million in ransom.

PNP Chief Dela Rosa identified the seven policemen as PO3s Arnold Nagayo, Gomerson Evangelista, and Roentjen Domingo; PO2s Richard King and Ruben Rodriguez; and PO1s Jayson Ibe and Mark Joseph Pineda, all assigned to Angeles City police station.

Trader kidnapped in QC rescued in Davao; 2 kidnappers killed

A Manila-based businesswoman Sally Chua, in her late 50s was abducted in Quezon City last weekend was rescued in Davao City Thursday, even as two of her suspected abductors were killed while a third was wounded in an encounter with police.

Police in Davao are now tracking down at least 11 other suspects who managed to elude arrest during the encounter, radio dzBB reported.

The report quoted Davao Region police head Chief Superintendent Jaime Morente as saying that the victim was abducted in Quezon City July 5.

Her abductors brought her to Davao City by land. They demanded a ransom of P150 million but lowered the demand to P15 million.

An initial investigation showed the police tailed the suspects after the money was withdrawn at a bank in the city.

But when the abductors were cornered by police, they allegedly opened fire, prompting police to fire back.

The 11 other suspects fled aboard a sport-utility vehicle, even as police initiated a dragnet operation to catch them.

Senior Supt. Ronald Dela Rosa, the city police director said the group was considered to be “big-time” and is made up mainly of locals with “possible connections to an international syndicate.”

The 10-minute “shootout” took place following repeated warnings from Mayor Rodrigo Duterte that criminals have to leave the city “horizontally (reads voluntarily) or vertically (in coffins)” as they have no place here.

Dela Rosa said the police first tried to “corner” the three white vehicles parked outside the Allied Bank on Claro M. Recto St. past noontime but three armed men started shooting at them.

The still unidentified driver and two other gunmen were killed in the process. He said a Philippine Army 2007 ring was found on his finger.

Dela Rosa said another suspect, who accompanied Chua inside the bank, was arrested but about 10 other cohorts, including two women, managed to escape aboard the two other vehicles.

De la Rosa said Chua was kidnapped from Del Monte Village in Quezon City on July 5 and had convinced her abductors to arrange for the pay-off to be made here.

Chua, dela Rosa said, had recounted they travelled all the way from Manila on board the three vehicles so she could withdraw the agreed ransom amount of P15 million.

He said Chua had told him and Duterte that she was hoping the mayor and the police would not let the kidnappers escape, which was why she tried hard to convince them to come to Davao City.

But dela Rosa said before Chua told them these things, the National Capital Region police office had already alerted the Davao City police office about the possibility of the payoff taking place here.

“So we have known it beforehand that they were coming,” he said.

Dela Rosa said the police would do its best to capture the remaining suspects.

Philippine cops eyed in 8-year-old's abduction

A GROUP of rogue policemen believed to have forged an alliance with a notorious organized crime group is being eyed in the abduction of an eight-year old boy in a school bus in Laguna. The victim was rescued by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in Taytay, Rizal Tuesday days after he was snatched in front of his classmates in Barangay San Francisco, Biñan, Laguna. Highly-reliable sources said the suspects who are known to have links with the dreaded Ozamis –Alferez organized crime group are also believed responsible for at least two other recent kidnapping incidents. “We’re still investigating the real identities and background of the suspects,” a security official who refused to be named said. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima insisted that the abductors of the boy tried to demand ransom from his parents until an informant led NBI operatives to a small house inside Pinesville Subdivision in Taytay where they found the victim alone and starving. The abandoned shanty had been subjected to a routine inspection by police investigators hoping to find more clues that will lead them to the kidnappers. Investigators are also trying to locate the anonymous caller who tipped off the location of the victim amid the possibility that the informant knows something about the incident. De Lima ordered the NBI to transfer the boy to the custody of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group for further investigation. journal.com.ph