Tarlac police director Senior Supt, Alex Sintin identified the latest victim as Baiwander Singh who was shot dead by suspects on a motorbike in broad daylight last week in Sitio Manga in Barangay Matatalaib in Tarlac City.
Sintin said Baiwander was the sixth Indian national to be shot dead in Tarlac since late last year. Last January, another Indian national, Gurinder Singh, was also shot dead by suspects on motorbike in Northern Hills subdivision, Barangay San Rafael also in Tarlac City.
Police records also showed that last year, four other Indian nationals were shot dead in the towns of Pura, Concepcion, Bamban, and Capas.
“We are giving appropriate action to the spate of senseless killings of our brother Indian nationals”, said Sintin in a meeting with a group of Indian nationals based in Tarlac.
Sintin cited records indicating that some 10 years ago, members of an Indian kidnap-for-ransom group were arrested and charged with victimizing their compatriots in Tarlac.
A police source who asked not to be named for lack of authority to talk about the case, said the recent killings of Indian nationals could involve remnants of the group reviving activities from 10 years ago. “It’s similar to the Korean gang reportedly operating in Pampanga and Metro Manila, which also zeroes in on their compatriots,” he said.
The members of the SITG are the Tarlac City police chief and the heads of the police provincial intelligence branch, the police provincial investigation and detection management branch, police provincial operations branch, the police Regional Investigation Office (PRO3- RIO) and the Tarlac Criminal Investigation and Detection led by Inspector Angelo Nicolas.
