Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome, Tarlac provincial police director, said that the task force is also into the reported "gold bar" deal as possible motive in the murder of Dionisio Llamas, 76.
Bartolome said the task force learned from Jesse Llamas, son of the victim, that his father left their house on Sept. 25, at about 10 a.m.
One week prior to the incident, he said his father changed the license plate of his car. He also said that his father is engaged in a gold bar deal with a certain Rey and even borrowed P250,000 intended as partial payment. The full amount of the deal was P6.2 million.
He added that three weeks earlier, Rey and his father and two other companions went to Hong Kong to finalize the deal.
On Sept. 25, the victim was able to produce P550,000 and was to meet the contact persons. The following day, the victim’s car was recovered in Tarlac City and his body was found in La Paz town.
Bartolome said that Llamas was set up by his contact persons who are members of a fake gold bar syndicate.
He said that there is a strong indication that Llamas was a victim of a fake gold bar syndicate operating in Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Angeles City.
The victim may be robbed and killed by the suspects, he added.
As of yesterday, Bartolome said that the task force is coordinating with Llamas’ son in establish the identities of his male and female companions when he went to Hongkong.