Bystanders crowd an area where a body of a man, who was later identified as Dhinz Abzyl Zabala, was found in Sitio Telepuno, Barangay Camp 7, in Minglanilla, Cebu on Monday, September 18, 2023. CDN Digital photo | Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The killing of the man, who was shot dead and whose body was dumped in a ravine in Camp 7, Minglanilla town last week, was a hit ordered allegedly by a drug boss, who was inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila.
Police Captain Kelvin Jomari Golitod, Minglanilla Police Station chief, told CDN Digital in an interview on Saturday, September 23, that the shooting of Dhinz Adzyl Zabala, 32, of Barangay Sambag, Cebu City, was also allegedly a drug-related killing.
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Victim allegedly failed to remit drug proceeds
Golitod said that the victim, Zabala, allegedly failed to remit some of the proceeds of allegedly selling illegal drugs, and this was the reason for him being shot to death.
He said that this information was known after two suspects, who allegedly killed the victim, were arrested on September 21.
Golitod was referring to the victim’s friend and neighbor, whom the police chief only named as Junjun, and the alleged gun-for-hire, whom the police chief named as “Tepan.”
He also described Junjun as allegedly a drug dealer.
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Where suspects were caught
Junjun was arrested in Barangay Sambag in Cebu City on September 21 and Tepan was caught on the same day in Talisay City.
A .45 caliber pistol was confiscated from Tepan.
The police chief said that they were running ballistic tests on the gun to find out if this was the gun used in the killing.
Golitod said that investigation showed that “Junjun,” who was also allegedly a drug dealer, brought the victim on his motorcycle to Camp 7 in Minglanilla town at past midnight of September 18.
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Victim willingly went with suspect before he was killed
He said that initial investigation showed that Zabala was not forced to go to the area where he was killed.
Junjun allegedly told police that the victim trusted him because he was his friend and neighbor, and the victim willingly rode Junjun’s motorcycle to the area where he was killed because Junjun told the victim that they had some business to do there.
“May bago tayong project. Sumama ka sa akin (We have a new project. Come with me) ,” Golitod said that this was what the Junjun told Zabala in Bisaya so that he would go with him.
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Drug boss ordered hit on Zabala
Golitod said that the suspect and victim’s boss in the illegal drugs business in a jail in Metro Manila allegedly ordered the hit on Zabala after he allegedly failed to remit his proceeds for selling illegal drugs.
The Minglanilla police chief said that the boss of the drug group was serving time in jail in the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa in Metro Manila.
He also said that the drug boss had been running the drug business inside the prison, and in Cebu, he allegedly had two underlings, who are also in the Cebu City Jail who would allegedly help run the business here.
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Man ordered by drug boss to broker the hit
Police Captain Golitod said that a certain Adrian allegedly brokered the hit on Zabala as he was the one who negotiated with the gun-for-hire, Tepan.
He also begged off from naming the boss and his underlings, saying that he did not want to jeopardize an ongoing investigation on these people.
On the day of the killing, Golitod said that they arrived on separate motorcycles at Camp 7 in Minglanilla town in southern Cebu at past midnight of September 18.
Junjun was driving the motorcycle with the victim, Zabala, as his backrider.
Tepan arrived in the area on a separate motorcycle at about the same time.
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Suspects dumped body at ravine
After Tepan allegedly shot Zabala, he and Junjun allegedly dumped the victim on the ravine at the side of the road.
The victim’s body was found a few hours later by people riding a vehicle passing by the area at past 7 a.m. of September 18.
Golitod said that Junjun was positively identified by the mother of the victim as the one, whom her son, Zabala, accompanied on the suspect’s motorcycle when they left the house on the day that the victim was last seen alive.
The Minglanilla Police Chief said that murder charges were already filed on Friday, September 22, against the two suspects and they remained detained at the Minglanilla Police Station detention cell.
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