This information is being squeezed out by police investigators from the eight Chinese nationals and three Filipinos undergoing tactical interrogation at the Regional Intelligence and Special Operations Office (RISOO) at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.
The "hitmen" angle came after the leader of the group, Cai Hontian alias Huai Ia, was confirmed by RISOO agents as a member of the 14-K drug syndicate. Cai, who remains at large, is also listed in the Narcotics Group (NarcGroup) order-of-battle. Metro Manila police chief Deputy Director General Edgar Galvante refused to comment on the "hitmen" angle. But he stressed that efforts are underway to "account" for all of the "important players" in the shabu laboratory in Pasig City. "We are exerting all efforts to account for all the people involved in the operations of the makeshift shabu laboratory," said Galvante in a telephone interview.
The "hitmen" angle was vigorously pursued by RISOO operatives after they were tipped off by an informant that the Chinese nationals, at least five of them tourists, were responsible for the silencing of "customers" who failed to remit payment for 14-K gang drug deals.
They were also involved in the kidnapping of immediate relatives of their "clients" to force them to pay for the drugs they owed, according to the informant.
The "hitmen" angle was bolstered by the high-powered firearms – two Ingram machine pistols with silencers and an Uzi – recovered by RISOO agents from the house of one of the suspects, Xing Wang, 44, at San Agustin St., Capitol 8 Subd. last Wednesday. The RISOO agents headed by Chief Inspector Nelson Yabut also confiscated five kilos of shabu with a street value of P10 million and assorted chemicals for the manufacture of shabu.
The firearms were found inside the room believed occupied by Xing, who rented the house for P30,000 a month.
According to Yabut, the firearms were not covered by necessary permits. "We are presently trying to trace the real owners of the seized guns," Yabut said. The eight Chinese nationals refused to comment on the recovered guns, initial results of the tactical interrogation revealed.