MANILA, Philippines – A Pampanga court has found a Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel and a former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agent guilty over the death of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo in 2016.

Angeles City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 60 convicted Police Chief Master Sergeant Ricky Sta. Isabel and former NBI agent Jerry Omlang of kidnapping with homicide, according to an ABS-CBN News report. The court has yet to release the full copy of the ruling.

The two were also convicted of carnapping and of kidnapping and serious illegal detention of Jee’s helper.

The Angeles City RTC sentenced the cop and former NBI agent to two reclusion perpetua or up to 40 years for the two kidnapping charges. They were also sentenced to 22 to 25 years in prison for carnapping. In total, each of them faces up to 65 years in prison.

However, the alleged mastermind, Police Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Dumlao, was acquitted by the court after the prosecution failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

The South Korean was abducted from his home in Angeles City on October 18, 2016. On the same day, he was brought to Camp Crame in Quezon City, the PNP’s national headquarters.

Jee Ick Joo was strangled to death allegedly by the police assigned to the then-Anti-Illegal Drugs Group. His death became one of the biggest controversies the police faced since the launch of the bloody drug war of the Duterte administration because Jee Ick Joo died at the hands of cops. The PNP chief at the time was now-Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.

According to the police, the South Korean businessman was killed to “silence” him about the alleged police extortion of Koreans in Angeles City. Jee Ick Joo’s death triggered the first suspension of war on drugs back in early 2017. – Rappler.com