NBI: Abducted Korean national dead

Jee Ick-joo

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said the abducted Korean national Jee Ick-joo is dead.

NBI assistant regional director Roel Bolivar told reporters on Tuesday that Jee’s remains were brought to a funeral parlor in Bagbaguin Caloocan last October.

However, the NBI was not able to recover the body.

Radio reports said that the victim’s body has been cremated and the ashes dumped by the “boss” of the kidnappers.

“We showed them (funeral parlor workers) a photo of the victim and they said it was him,” Bolivar said.

He added that they have also invited the workers who processed Jee’s body for questioning.

The Korean national was abducted on Oct. 18.

A South Korean news agency, quoting police sources,  said the victim appeared to have been strangled to death on that same day of the kidnapping, which was dubbed as a case of “tokhang for ransom.”

A policeman, SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel, and his cohorts have been accused of using President Duterte’s all-out campaign against drugs as a cover to the kidnapping of Jee.

The disappearance of Jee Ick-joo, a former director at a South Korean heavy industries firm in the Philippines, was the first high-profile case that shows how corrupt officers could take advantage of the administration’s unrelenting drug war, which has so far left over 6,000 dead.