Tuesday, December 18, 2007
3 more killings link to Aves
THE .45 pistol confiscated by police from Aristotle Aves when he was arrested last Dec. 3 in Pier 8, Mandaue City is the same gun used in the fatal shooting of three persons in 2005 and this year.
According to the ballistic test by the PNP 7 Crime Laboratory, the gun was used to kill businessman and former Kiwanis Club of Cebu president Wilson Yu in October 2005, Hiroshi Kusaka last month and one Roland Rico Teves last February.
Both Yu and Kusaka were shot and killed in Mandaue City, while Teves, jobless, was shot dead at the north reclamation area in Cebu City in front of his pregnant wife.
Yu was ambushed by three men as he was driving to his company’s office in Pilit, Cabancalan on Oct. 6, 2005. He was 45 years old when he died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Yu, owner of WAM Manufacturing and Development Inc., was President Arroyo’s political supporter and campaigner in Cebu. Arroyo had earlier ordered police to closely look into the killing.
Police later organized Task Force Wilson Yu to solve the killing with Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 as lead investigator.
Kusaka, on the other hand, was gunned down while the van he was in stopped for a red light at the corner of G. Ouano and Plaridel Sts. in Barangay Cambaro last Nov. 13.
Police Regional Office 7 Director Ronald Roderos created a task force composed of elements from CIDG 7 and the Mandaue City Police Office to look into the killing.
A team of Japanese probers was also reported to have offered their help.
CIDG 7 Director Jose Jorge Corpuz, one of the members of the composite investigating team that is looking into the cases linked to Aves and his group, presented the result of the examination during a press conference yesterday.
The latest ballistic and cross-matching result brought to 12 the total number of crimes linked to Aves and his alleged cohorts, including Jesus Singson Jr., who was arrested with Aves last Dec. 3, and Jose Mari Temblon.
Temblon was arrested in a raid conducted by CIDG 7 and members of the Mandaue City Police Office in Barangay Ibabao last Thursday.
Last Dec. 10, the crime laboratory came up with a separate result of ballistic and cross-matching tests on a .45 Colt pistol turned over by Singson.
The pistol, which was also allegedly used by Aves in killing his targets, yielded positive results. It may have been used in nine major crimes—three in Mandaue City and six in Cebu City.
In Mandaue City, these were the killings of Bienvenido Quijano, a flower shop worker, last July 17; Taru Suda, another Japanese national last July 18; and Eric Salubre last July 23.
In Cebu City, these were the shootings of Angelito Reyes, Eugenio Presbetiro, Benjamin Dilao and Jonathan Tabada last Sept. 21 that left Presbetiro dead; Armand Panit last Sept. 29, who died; the drive-by shootings that killed Laurence Morados, Lord Stephen Vasquez and William John Aznar and injured Jeffrey Romano, Mhako Repello Buenconsejo, Rendon Pellerin and Rey Gonzales; and a shooting in a gasoline station on M.J. Cuenco Ave. where police recovered two empty shells.
During yesterday’s press conference, Corpuz said the composite team hopes to file charges against Aves for killing Yu and Kusaka within the week.
Corpuz said the investigating team has already coordinated with Yu’s family to help them in filing the charges.
He said the team’s challenge right now is identifying and arresting the mastermind.
Based on information they gathered, Corpuz said Aves’ group, which is allegedly involved in gun-for-hire activities, charges P10,000 per hit. (JST)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (December 18, 2007 issue)
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