3 cops, 2 men arrested for kidnapping, killing businesswoman

MANILA — Three cops, including Inspector Eljie Jacobe of the National Capital Region Police Supplies Division, were among the five men arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation for robbing and killing a woman, and later sealing her body in a drum.

The plastic drum, which was fished off Pasig River along Escolta last Friday, contained the body of businesswoman Adora Lazatin, 50.

Lawyer Manny Eduarte, head of the NBI-Anti Organized and Transnational Crime Division, said Jacobe and a rookie were arrested early Saturday morning, hours after Lazatin’s body was recovered.

They were both in police uniform when NBI operatives caught them withdrawing P50,000 from a Banco de Oro ATM booth in Parañaque about 2 a.m. on Saturday using Lazatin’s ATM card.

Jacobe resisted arrest and tried to escape, leading a minor scuffle between him and the arresting officers.

Eduarte said it was their sixth withdrawal since Lazatin’s abduction last Monday. NBI operatives, meanwhile, have been monitoring the group since Lazatin’s family reported her disappearance, on Tuesday.

Based on her family’s complaint, Lazatin, who owned a parcel of land in Las Piñas City, was supposed to meet a buyer on Monday morning. The buyer, who expressed interest in her property, turned out to be Jacobe.

From Bicutan they took her to Calocoon City, where they would later kill her by strangulation. NBI operatives were also trying to establish why Lazatin was only in her panties when her body was recovered.

Eduarte said the syndicate wanted to deplete Lazatin’s bank account containing P500,000 first and later, they would demand ransom from her family but along the way, they decided to kill her.

Despite killing Lazatin, the group withdrew P50,000 daily from her bank account using the her ATM card, which Jacobe kept. They also kept her cellular phone working, making AOTCD operatives assume that the kidnappers still planned on demanding ransom money even after Lazatin’s death.

The daily withdrawals and the phone’s location enabled NBI to trace the group’s movement and eventually Jacobe’s location. Eduarte attributed the success of their five-day operation to divine intervention and NBI operatives’ hardwork.

Eduarte said more than 100 men, including volunteers, were deployed to monitor hundreds of BDO ATM booths in the cities of Manila, Parañaque, Taguig, and Caloocan for the suspects’ arrest.

Cases of kidnapping with murder will be filed against the suspects on Monday, after which a press conference will be held to identify Jacobe’s accomplices, according to Eduarte.   SFM