Gunshots fired at car of two traders outside Mactan home

Two Korean businessmen survived an ambush  when their car was shot up  by a motorcycle-riding assailant outside their subdivsion  in Lapu-Lapu City  past 8 a.m. yesterday.

The victims identified as 46-year-old Lee Dong Gun and 40-year-old Jung Ha Bok suffered gunshot wounds in their arms.

The Koreans  were on board their white Durango Dodge and had just exited the  gate of the Pacific Villa 1 Subdivision in barangay Pajac when the ambush occured.

Police said they had no idea yet what was the motive for the attack.

Both Koreans have been living in Cebu for a year and rode a vehicle which bore the seal of the Office of the President.

When asked about it by police, Gun said they had purchased the vehicle from a friend in Manila.

Gun owns a souvenir shop in barangay Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City and manages a mini-yellow submarine in Imperial Palace, a resort patronized by Korean tourists.

A week earlier, police rescued a Korean manager and his common-law wife who were forced into a car and handcuffed in a kidnapping staged in Cebu City that was allegedly ordered by a fellow Korean over an unpaid P4 milllion debt.

Police arrested the alleged Korean mastermind and three men who pretended to be police officers when they carried out the  abduction. The local cohorts were withdrawing part of a P600,000 ransom from the victim’s ATM account when they were arrested.

The PNP chief has ordered an investigation into whether a syndicate was behind similar incidents of kidnapping  involving Koreans and other expats  with  their compatriots.

In yesterday’s  ambush,   Gun said he was unable to see the gunman’s features when he opened the car window on the left side of the vehicle.

He said he and Bok, who rode at the back seat, ducked for cover when  shots rang out.  Their  vehicle slowly moved  forward, hitting a habal-habal motorcycle parked at the subdivision’s front gate.

The gunman didn’t wear a mask.  He quickly baorded a motorcycle and left  after hearing warning shots fired by security guard Jomarlon Escobar of Eastwood Security Agency.

Both  Koreans were rushed to the Mactan Doctors Hospital for treatment of gunshot wounds in their arms.  They later reported the attack to the Lapu-Lapu City police.

The Durango Dodge vehicle they rode had four bullet holes in its doors. Police recovered five empty shells of a .45 pistol and one slug from a .39 revolver in the car.

The subdivision guardhouse has closed circuit TV cameras whose footage is being reviewed by the police.

Samson Ornopia, the Korean’s regular driver,  wasn’t around when the attack occured. Ornopia, 30, who had been driving the victims for the past seven months, told police  he didn’t know of any enemies the two Koreans may have.

Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, Lapu-Lapu City police chief, said he talked with the victims through their interpreter. They told him that they don’t know of any business rivals who could have been behind the attempt on their lives.

“We are still investigating the case and will invite the  people seen in the camera footage such as the habal-habal driver and security guard to shed light on the incident,” Lawas said.

Whiel the victims didn’t ask for security ,  Lawas said he will ask the police precinct stationed near their area to patrol the site and stay alert for suspicious-looking persons near the subdivision.