By Na Jeong-ju

The Philippine police have handed over three South Korean suspects after arresting them for murdering a 41-year-old compatriot in the Philippines, police said Wednesday.

The victim’s body was found buried in the front yard of a house they rented in a residential area in Manila on Sept. 8.

According to Gangnam Police Station, the murder took place on Aug. 22. The three suspects, whose identities were withheld, allegedly abducted the victim, surnamed Chung, around the hotel he was staying in and suffocated him to death. Then they buried his body.

“The suspects are now behind bars, and we are chasing an accomplice who abetted in the kidnapping,” an officer said.

Chung was in the casino and securities businesses in the Philippine capital and had Filipino citizenship. The three suspects had known Chung for a long time.

Police suspect they kidnapped Chung for a ransom, but killed him after he rejected their demands. They then broke into his hotel room and stole some 27 million won.

They told police that they had lost hundreds of millions of won in a casino before abducting him. They insisted that Chung was killed unintentionally, but police suspect it was premeditated.

The Manila police launched an investigation late last month based on a missing report from his family in South Korea. His family asked the police to search for him because he had been out of contact for a week after leaving for Manila on Aug. 13.