PHILIPPINES (TR) – Two men in custody over the alleged killing of two male Japanese tourists in Manila last week were given orders by a third Japanese national, law enforcement has revealed, reports TV Asahi (Aug. 19).
On the night of August 15, an assailant with a handgun shot and killed Akinobu Nakayama, 41, and Hideaki Satori, 53, on a street in Manila. The assailant then sped off on a motorcycle.
Three days later, Philippine authorities announced that they had arrested two men believed to be involved in the incident after tracking them with multiple security cameras.
The suspects are brothers. One was the shooter and the other a tour guide who was traveling with the victims in a taxi.
On Tuesday, local authorities revealed that the arrested stated that they were “requested to carry out the murders by a Japanese mastermind.”
The brothers were promised a reward of 9 million pesos (approximately 23 million yen) for the hit. They initially received 10,000 pesos (26,000 yen) before the crime was carried out.
The victims were frequent visitors to the Philippines. As a result, authorities are treating this as a premeditated murder. They are now working to identify the mastermind while continuing to investigate the circumstances that led to the incident.
