ANGELES CITY – Police probers are looking into the possibility that the British Bruce Anthony Jones, 50, was shot dead here last Tuesday to silence him as witness amid reports that the high powered arms found in the ship he abandoned last year off the shores off Mariveles, Bataan, were for some politicians bracing for the last May elections.
City police director Senior Supt. Danny Bautista said he is checking reports that Jones had become a state witness in a case of firearms smuggling.
Jones died from multiple gunshot wounds inflicted by still unidentified suspects riding in-tandem on a motorcycle.
He was the captain of a 2,400-ton Panama-registered MV Captain Ufuk which was anchored some 500 meters off the shores of Mariveles, Bataan in July last year. A search done by lawmen found 54 high-powered arms on the ship.
Thirteen Georgian crewmen and a South African on board were arrested, but Jones was not among them as he apparently was elsewhere during the raid by the Bureau of Customs’ Intelligence and Investigation Service (BCIIS).
The arms were apparently meant to be delivered to locally via the Port of Mariveles.
The 54 firearms were estimated to be worth P25 million, consisting of Isreali-type Galil assault rifles. While such firearms are usually made in Israel, those found in the ship were made in Indonesia.
The guns were concealed in four wooden at the cargo hold, while another crate contained slings, magazines and bayonets for some of the firearms.
Also found were 15 empty wooden crates, prompting probers to suspect that more arms had already been unloaded before the search.
Documents recovered from the vessel showed the ship left a seaport in Turkey and had briefly stopped in Malaysia and Indonesia.
The BCIIS then theorized that the guns were from an international gun-running syndicate and were to be delivered to some local politicians gearing for the last May polls.
Bautista cited reports that earlier this year, Jones was arrested in Olongapo for illegal drugs possession but got out on bail. After he was also ascertained to be the captain of the ship in Mariveles, he was reported to have been turned by the Department of Justice into a state witness in the gun smuggling case, he added.
Bautista said Basham’s wife, Maricel Aramas Jones, 25, and a friend of the couple whom he did not identify, confirmed death threats on her husband. “She said that suspicious men had been casing their house in Olongapo City lately,” he added.
The wife also sustained gunshot wounds during last Tuesday’s attack, but she was pronounced in stable condition yesterday in a local hospital.
Bautista said the killing of Jones was not related to the fatal shooting of American James Basham, 63, who was shot dead also by motorcycle-riding suspects as he was about to board his motorcycle at the Pampang public market in this city last Sunday morning. Basham was a former policeman from Texas and was also married to a Filipina.
The gunman in the Basham case used a .45 calibre pistol, while the triggerman in the case of Jones apparently used an improvised pistol or revolver with armalite bullet,” he said, while also noting the previous death threats against Jones and his links to the gun smuggling case.
A sketch of the gunman in the Basham case has already been finished, Bautista said. It was based on the description of a witness who saw the gunman and his accomplice arrive on a motorcycle and waiting for their target who was in the Pampang public market.
“The gunman was seen removing his helmet and taking refuge inside a parked jeepney while waiting. When they saw Basham, the gunman put on his helmet and rushed to shoot the victim,” he said.
As of yesterday, police probers still had no clue on the identities of the suspects in both cases.
City police director Senior Supt. Danny Bautista said he is checking reports that Jones had become a state witness in a case of firearms smuggling.
Jones died from multiple gunshot wounds inflicted by still unidentified suspects riding in-tandem on a motorcycle.
He was the captain of a 2,400-ton Panama-registered MV Captain Ufuk which was anchored some 500 meters off the shores of Mariveles, Bataan in July last year. A search done by lawmen found 54 high-powered arms on the ship.
Thirteen Georgian crewmen and a South African on board were arrested, but Jones was not among them as he apparently was elsewhere during the raid by the Bureau of Customs’ Intelligence and Investigation Service (BCIIS).
The arms were apparently meant to be delivered to locally via the Port of Mariveles.
The 54 firearms were estimated to be worth P25 million, consisting of Isreali-type Galil assault rifles. While such firearms are usually made in Israel, those found in the ship were made in Indonesia.
The guns were concealed in four wooden at the cargo hold, while another crate contained slings, magazines and bayonets for some of the firearms.
Also found were 15 empty wooden crates, prompting probers to suspect that more arms had already been unloaded before the search.
Documents recovered from the vessel showed the ship left a seaport in Turkey and had briefly stopped in Malaysia and Indonesia.
The BCIIS then theorized that the guns were from an international gun-running syndicate and were to be delivered to some local politicians gearing for the last May polls.
Bautista cited reports that earlier this year, Jones was arrested in Olongapo for illegal drugs possession but got out on bail. After he was also ascertained to be the captain of the ship in Mariveles, he was reported to have been turned by the Department of Justice into a state witness in the gun smuggling case, he added.
Bautista said Basham’s wife, Maricel Aramas Jones, 25, and a friend of the couple whom he did not identify, confirmed death threats on her husband. “She said that suspicious men had been casing their house in Olongapo City lately,” he added.
The wife also sustained gunshot wounds during last Tuesday’s attack, but she was pronounced in stable condition yesterday in a local hospital.
Bautista said the killing of Jones was not related to the fatal shooting of American James Basham, 63, who was shot dead also by motorcycle-riding suspects as he was about to board his motorcycle at the Pampang public market in this city last Sunday morning. Basham was a former policeman from Texas and was also married to a Filipina.
The gunman in the Basham case used a .45 calibre pistol, while the triggerman in the case of Jones apparently used an improvised pistol or revolver with armalite bullet,” he said, while also noting the previous death threats against Jones and his links to the gun smuggling case.
A sketch of the gunman in the Basham case has already been finished, Bautista said. It was based on the description of a witness who saw the gunman and his accomplice arrive on a motorcycle and waiting for their target who was in the Pampang public market.
“The gunman was seen removing his helmet and taking refuge inside a parked jeepney while waiting. When they saw Basham, the gunman put on his helmet and rushed to shoot the victim,” he said.
As of yesterday, police probers still had no clue on the identities of the suspects in both cases.
