'Guns for hire' ops eyed in Chinese businessman's killing
Verification is underway on the activities of a group of seven Cebuano-speaking men in Iloilo following Saturday's killing of a Chinese businessman in Jaro, Iloilo City.
This as intelligence sources told The News Today (TNT) that the incident appears to be the execution of a planned and paid liquidation plot, the masterminds and accomplices reportedly now known to authorities.
While no specifics were released, TNT gathered that the group came from Southern Philippines with the business sector as targets. Both the police and the military, TNT further learned, are on the job trying to establish identities of the seven and local contacts that allegedly include gang members with police and military background.
And it is purely business for these yet to be identified suspects, sources added, with the "gun and goons for hire" operations now extended to Western Visayas.
Police, however, has yet to determine the motive of the killing.
Thirty-five year old Zhigang Zhang, owner of a store in downtown Iloilo, was gunned down by three motorcycle-riding suspects around 8:45 p.m. Saturday inside his car.
The suspects, on board a red XRM motorcycle, fired four shots hitting Zhang on his left shoulder causing his instant death.
Zhang was driving his Nissan X-Trail on the way home to Ledesco Village in La Paz district.
He was caught up by the suspects along Javellana Extension.
Witnesses heard of four gunshots afterwhich they saw the Nissan X-Trail slowing down.
They were not able to get hold of the motorcycle's plate number as it immediately sped up after the incident.
Several empty shells of .45 caliber pistol were recovered from the scene.
Earlier, Chief Insp. Jack Wanky of the Jaro Police Station said they have yet to ascertain the motive behind the killing but they are tracing two angles.
One, could be a traffic altercation between Zhang and the suspects before the incident.
The other could be a business-related conflict.
Zhang was reported to have previously managed a big store with several branches in the city proper.
Later, however, he parted ways with his business partners and put up his own business also in downtown Iloilo.
Police sources say a serious conflict ensued between Zhang and his business partners which resulted to the split.
Police investigators at the Jaro Police Station are still getting deeper on the case.