Philippine police kidnapped and murdered a South Korean businessman, then led his wife to believe he was alive for months to extort money from her, authorities said on January 18, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / STR
A South Korean businessman who went missing in the Philippines three months ago was kidnapped by policemen and murdered on the day he disappeared, a Seoul official said Wednesday.
The family of the man, in his 50s and only identified with his surname Ji, reportedly sent the suspects a ransom of five million pesos ($100,000) two weeks after he was seized in Angeles, near Manila.
But he had already been strangled to death and burned to ashes in a crematorium owned by one of the gang, a former police officer, said an official at Seoul’s foreign ministry, citing the Philippine inquiry’s findings.
Eight suspects, including three current Philippine policemen, were being investigated, the official said.
“The Philippine police told us that several police officers had been named as suspects in the kidnapping and murder,” said an official at Seoul’s foreign ministry.
The man disappeared from his home in the northern city of Angeles in October last year, and his wife initially paid a ransom of five million pesos ($100,000), national police spokesman Dionardo Carlos told AFP.
However, the man was strangled to death and burned to ashes in a crematorium on the day he was abducted, the South Korean foreign ministry said, citing a Philippine government report.
The crematorium was owned by a former police officer, the foreign ministry said.
The South Korean government identified the man only by his surname of Ji and said he was in his 50s. Philippine media said he was a businessman who had been working in the Philippines since 2008 and had been working for a manpower company.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se demanded answers after receiving a phone call from Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay to inform him of the murder.
“Minister Yun, expressing grave shock over the implication of Philippine police officers in the case, asked that the Philippine government get to the bottom of the case and bring those responsible to justice,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.
Ricky Santa Isabel, one of the officers accused of going to Ji’s house and abducting him, surrendered this week, according to Carlos, the police spokesman.
He said another two officers who went with him to the house were under investigation.
Carlos said a retired police officer was also believed to be involved but had fled to Canada.
– Fake drug raid –
All three accused officers were from the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group based at national police headquarters in Manila, according to Carlos.
He said that Santa Isabel and the other two officers went to Ji’s house on the pretext of a drug raid.
The abductors demanded from Ji’s wife a ransom of eight million pesos on October 30, 12 days after he was killed, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper, which first reported the news.
It said that she paid five million pesos ($100,000), but the kidnappers then demanded another 4.5 million pesos and continued to say he was alive.
The case has drawn criticism from some lawmakers and media in the Philippines as an example of corrupt policemen expanding their illegal activities after being given freedoms by Duterte to prosecute his war on drugs.
Carlos insisted to AFP the abduction of Ji was not related to Duterte’s drug war, saying the problem of kidnappings for ransom by corrupt police had existed for a long time.
“It turned out it was an old modus operandi where bad cops claim there is a drug raid and turn it into a kidnap for ransom,” Carlos said.
(Agence France Presse)