ANGELES CITY, Philippines – A criminal complaint of kidnapping for ransom and robbery was filed against Korean Jung Young Hun, alias “Tomas”, for his alleged role in the extortion of fellow Koreans involving local cops here.

The Pampanga Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) filed the complaint before the city prosecutor in Angeles City and included Jung in it, Central Luzon Police Chief Superintendent Aaron Aquino confirmed to Rappler.

Aquino said a subpoena has been issued against Jung for his counter-affidavit. Sources from the Korean community earlier told Rappler that Jung had gone missing ever since the initial charges were filed against policemen last January 12.

Aquino said Jung is still in Angeles City.

The complaint stemmed from an incident on December 30, 2016, where 7 cops from the Angeles City Station 5 arrested without warrant 3 Korean tourists and detained them for hours before getting a P300,000 payoff.

The first complaint of kidnapping and robbery was filed against the 7 policemen, who said in their sworn statements that Jung worked as a middleman and eventually got a P30,000 share from the payoff.

The cops also implicated their former station commander Chief Inspector Wendel Arinas, who allegedly took home P151,000, while the rest was split among the 7 cops, according to the CIDG’s motion, a copy of which was obtained by Rappler.

According to the policemen, the tourists’ househelp Lucilyn Torres tipped off a certain “Badong” who then informed the cops that the tourists were conducting illegal online activities in their house in Friendship Plaza, the same subdivision where slain businessman Jee Ick Joo was kidnapped on October 18, 2016.

“Station Commander of Police Station 5 issued a certficaton that there was no anti-gambling unit in their station, that the operation made by the 7 (policemen) had no pre-operation clearance, that the arrest of the 3 Koreans [was] not recorded in the police blotter nor criminal complaints against said Koreans were filed,” said the CIDG’s complaint.

Before this, Jung was treated as a witness in the case because he was the one who went to the tourists’ rescue and produced the money they paid the policemen in exchange for their release.

Aquino said that Jung is well known in the Korean community in Angeles, often assisting his fellow Koreans whenever they got into sticky situations. – Rappler.com