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Former Philippine police officers arrested in connection with the murder of beauty queen and fiancée

Theo

Two former police officers were arrested in the Philippines on Tuesday and another was detained for their alleged involvement in the disappearance and murder of Yitzhak Cohen and his partner, beauty queen Geneva Lopez, local sources reported.

In a press conference at Camp Crame on Monday, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and Philippine National Police chief General Rommel Marbil briefed the media on the two suspects, adding that they played a “significant role” in the killing.

The two former policemen – Michael Angelo Guyang and Rommel Abuzo – are suspected of shooting the couple over a land dispute. “Guyang did not want to give up the land he had mortgaged to Geneva,” said Leo Francisco, an officer of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police. “Guyang said there was also a buyer for the land he had mortgaged and introduced Abuzo as the buyer to Geneva.”

“From then on, they arranged to meet and the two former policemen shot the couple,” Francisco added. “According to our investigations, Guyang and Abuzo had discussed how to deal with the couple the day before. That’s when they hatched the plan to kill them.”

However, Marbil also suggested that the murder was primarily a robbery and said investigators were looking into that possibility, Philippine television network CBN ABS-CBN reported on Monday.

Photo of Geneva Lopez and her Israeli fiancé Isaac Cohen. (Source: SCREENSHOT/X)

According to a report from InquiryGuyang had previously stated that he met the couple and traveled with them to inspect the land they were potentially looking to purchase in Armenia village in Tarlac City. In his affidavit, Guyand claimed the meeting was brief.

Philippines country scam

Police suspect several people are involved in the incident: the two former police officers who were arrested, another former police officer named Jeffrey Santos who was taken into custody, and at least two other people who are still at large.

The former police officers were arrested on Saturday as part of a police investigation into illegal possession of weapons. Inquiry further reported. Since their arrest, the suspects have been named as persons of interest in connection with the Cohen-Lopez incident, and on Monday, police confirmed they are suspects.

This development came two days after the couple’s Nissan, which they used to inspect the land they wanted to buy, was found burned in Capas town, Tarlac province. A few days later, the bodies of Cohen and his fiancée Lopez were found in a nearby quarry.

Agricultural land scams are well known to Philippine authorities: locals lure foreigners into buying land, extort money from them, and in extreme cases murder them and dispose of their bodies.

“There was hope that they would be found alive. There were extensive searches and local police were optimistic. But unfortunately that did not happen,” noted a source familiar with the details of the case and in contact with Foreign Ministry officials.

“It appears they were lured into a trap, a sort of Little Red Riding Hood scenario, to avoid paying the money owed. They were invited to a meeting, kidnapped and murdered to destroy evidence and avoid paying the debt.”



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