MANILA, Philippines — One of the suspects in the murder of a man whose dismembered body was stuffed in a blue drum in Binondo, Manila was arrested yesterday.
The 64-year-old suspect, known only as Victor, was nabbed by operatives of the Highway Patrol Group and Pasay police at around 2 a.m.
Probers said the suspect was recorded on closed-circuit television footage helping another suspect, a Chinese national, in moving the drum, which contained the victim’s body, from the 15th floor of a condominium building along Roxas Boulevard.
Pasay police chief Col. Joselito de Sesto said the unidentified Chinese-looking victim was murdered in a room on the 15th floor of the condominium, based on the bloodstains seen by investigators.
“Meron pa mga parang carcasses ng katawan at ‘yung mop may dugo din,” De Sesto told a news briefing at Camp Crame.
A security guard of the condominium building assisted the suspects after he was told that the drum contained soft drinks.
The drum was found by concerned citizens along Mel Lopez Boulevard in Barangay 275, Manila on Feb. 15.
Based on investigation, De Sesto said the Chinese ordered Victor to book a van, which was used to transport the drum to Manila.
A manhunt is ongoing for the foreigner who remains at large.
While they have yet to establish the motive, De Sesto said they are checking if the victim’s killing was related to debt from illegal Philippine offshore gaming operations.
“That is one of the angles we are looking into,” he said.