Duterte War On Drugs: Philippines Police Kill South Korean Businessman Before Collecting Ransom From His Wife

A South Korean man who had been missing for months was kidnapped and murdered by police officers in the Philippines, according to media reports. National Police spokesperson Dionadro Carlos told Agence France-Presse Wednesday that the officers extorted more than $140,000 from the man’s wife under the impression that the man, named Ji Ick-Joo, was still alive.

One of Ji’s abductors, a Philippines officer named Ricky Santa Isabel, turned himself in earlier this week, Carlos said. The other two officers who participated in the kidnap and killing of Ji are currently under investigation. All three policemen reportedly worked for the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group based at national police headquarters in Manila.

A ministry spokesman said South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se demanded answers and expressed "grave shock over the implication of Philippine police officers in the case"

Ji was last seen in October 2016 in his home in Angeles, a city about 46 miles north of Manila. South Korean foreign ministries said the businessman had been strangled to death then burned to ashes by police in a crematorium on the day he was captured.

The abductors contacted Ji’s wife 12 days after he was killed, demanding an 8 million pesos ($159,667) in ransom money. Initially, the woman paid the policemen 5 million pesos, but they instructed her to pay another 4.5 million pesos to keep him alive.

Ji was taken from by Santa Isabel during an alleged drug raid. However, Carlos told AFP that Ji’s abduction was not in relation to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, adding that the officer’s ransom request was just another example of corruption in the Philippines’ police force.

Ji, who had been working in the Philippines since 2008, is reportedly just one of 6,000 people killed in connection to Duterte’s war on drugs. Duerte recently launched a purge of thousands of people he believed to be involved in narcotics distribution.