MANILA,(MILLAT+APP/AFP) – Philippine police
kidnapped and murdered a South Korean businessman, then
led his wife to believe he was alive for months to extort
money from her, authorities said Wednesday.
The killing is the latest in a long series of criminal
acts by the Philippine police force, regarded as one of the
nation’s most corrupt institutions, and has fuelled concerns
about its role enforcing President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly
crime war.
The man disappeared from his home in the northern city
of Angeles in October last year, and his wife initially paid a
ransom of five million pesos ($100,000), national police spokesman
Dionardo Carlos told AFP.
However, the man was strangled to death and burned to
ashes in a crematorium on the day he was abducted, the South
Korean foreign ministry said, citing a Philippine government
report.
The crematorium was owned by a former police officer,
the foreign ministry said.
The South Korean government identified the man only by
his surname of Ji and said he was in his 50s. Philippine media
said he was a businessman who had been living in the Philippines
since 2008 and had been working for a manpower company.