Look for other motives in slay of Korean, solon urges probers

A former police superintendent-turned-lawmaker believes that kidnapping for ransom was not the motive of the officers who abducted and killed  Jee Ick-joo, a Korean businessman who provided manpower to online casinos, on the night of Oct. 18, 2016.

Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, chair of the House committee on public order and safety, said investigators needed to look at other angles why the suspects, led by Supt. Rafael Dumlao III and SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel, targeted Jee.

“How could it be kidnapping when Jee was killed on the same night he was abducted? They have to look at the real motive,” Acop said.

When the National Bureau of Investigation declared two weeks ago that Jee was dead based on testimony by one of the suspects that the Korean was strangled right inside Camp Crame and his body taken to a funeral parlor owned by a retired policeman then taken to a crematorium, Acop said authorities should have stopped calling it a “tokhang-for-ransom” case and looked for another motive.

Jee was earlier reported to have been arrested by the policemen on the pretext that he was a drug suspect.

Ransom demands

Acop said it appeared that the ransom demands—P5 million and P8 million—were just an afterthought as the suspects knew they could not present any  proof of life to squeeze money from Jee’s wife.

Acop said that authorities should focus on Jee’s main source of income, which was manpower services, a business he turned to after quitting as an executive of Korean shipbuilder Hanjin.

One angle being looked into by authorities was Jee’s contract to supply manpower to online casino games that cater to foreign markets.

A source, who has access to the ongoing investigation but who declined to speak on record, said that Jee was a victim of a protection racket, allegedly run by rogue NBI personnel, for online gaming operators based in Central Luzon.

The same source said Jee reportedly refused to give in to extortion and paid for it with his life.