Police arrest alleged gun-for-hire in murder of two Japanese

January 14, 2017

A man believed to have killed two Japanese  a few years ago was arrested by police in Las Pinas City on Friday.

Kirby Tan, an alleged Army reservist, was arrested 7 am at  Barangay Pulang Lupa Uno. Police recovered two .45 caliber pistols, a fragmentation grenade and three magazines with live ammunition in his house.

He is detained at the Southern Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

Chief Insp. Romeo Lanzarote,  head of the Southern Police District’s CIDG,  said they had a  search warrant from the Las Pinas Regional Trial Court for violating the   Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.

Tan is the main suspect in the murder of Tatsuya Nakamura and Shinsuke Toba. Nakamura was killed in Barangay Almanza Dos on Sept. 1, 2015 while Toba was shot dead in Barangay Manuyo Dos on Oct. 18,2014.

The suspect admitted he killed the two Japanese, Lanzarote said

A Japanese syndicate hired Tan, said Lanzarote.

The syndicate forms a company in the Philippines and hire Japanese  as  partners.

"These incorporators are being killed because once they are dead, the beneficiary would be the company," Lanzarote said in a TV interview.

Three Japanese and a Filipina, who were arrested in Japan last year, implicated Tan in the  syndicate,  said Lanzarote.

"They executed extra-judicial confessions and admitted their participation in the killing of the two Japanese victims," he said. DMS