Ranking PNP execs linked to kidnap-slay of ex-Hanjin exec

Former Hanjin executive Jee Ick-joo, 53, was allegedly abducted in October by a group that includes a policeman.

Ranking police officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) may have been involved in the abduction of former Hanjin executive Jee Ick Joo, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Wednesday.

The Justice Chief said Senior Police Officer 3 Ricky Sta. Isabel already identified ranking police officials who were linked to the abduction of Jee last Oct. 18, 2016.

Sta. Isabel is currently under the protective custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Aguirre said Sta. Isabel already talked to the NBI and identified other people who took part in the crime aside from the eight who are already facing a case before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“Matataas na [tao] ang involved. Nakapaligid sa PNP maaaring posible na kasama (Those being linked are ranking officials in the PNP),” Aguirre said. But when asked how high are the ranks of the officials involved, he refused to give details saying the investigation is still ongoing.

However, Sta. Isabel’s statement has not been put in writing because of his misunderstanding with his lawyer.

Sta. Isabel was the first police officer identified as involved in Jee’s abduction.

Aguirre added that it is possible that he would be placed under the Witness Protection Program (WPP).

“He appears to have knowledge of everything (in the case),” he explained.

Jee, a former executive at shipping firm Hanjin, was abducted last Oct. 18, 2016. His family paid P5 million ransom money on Oct. 31 but he was never released.

The abductors asked for an additional P4 million but failed to produce a proof of life, prompting the family to seek the police’s assistance.

In the complaint filed with the DOJ, the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) alleged that two domestic helpers identified the men who took Jee from his house in Friendship Plaza Subdivision at around 2 p.m. on Oct. 18, 2016.

Monaliza Buizer, who works for Jee’s neighbor, identified Sta. Isabel as the driver of a black pickup who helped two men drag Jee into the pickup.

She also said Sta. Isabel and one of the two men also took Jee’s car, a black Ford Explorer (ABT-1915).

Jee’s helper, Marisa Dawis Morquicho, identified a certain Ramon Vitug Yalung as one of two men who looted Jee’s house and an unnamed man as the one who drove off with Jee’s vehicle.

The subdivision’s security office told the AKG that a black Toyota Hilux (AAX-4655) entered the subdivision at around 12:58 p.m., or over an hour before Jee’s kidnap.

Investigators later learned that Sta. Isabel’s wife, Jinky, owns the Hilux and the policeman regularly used the car.

Jee’s wife, Choi Kyunghin, has already offered a P100,000 reward to anyone who can help find her husband.

On Tuesday, the NBI confirmed that Jee was already dead and his body was brought to funeral parlor the same day he was allegedly abducted by police officers on October 18, 2016.

Together with the Caloocan police, NBI agents did not recover Jee’s body at the funeral parlor, only to find out later that he was cremated last year.
Jee’s family accused police officials of abducting him in disguise of “Oplan Tokhang,” the government’s project of knocking into the homes of alleged drug suspects.