British captain shot dead in Philippines ‘by gun runners’

A British merchant navy captain shot dead in the Philippines had applied to join a witness protection programme after being caught in an arms smuggling operation.

Bruce Anthony Jones, 50, who led a wealthy expatriate lifestyle with a Filipina wife, Maricel Amaray, was ambushed as he drove to a local firing range outside Angeles City, 90 miles north of Manila.

His lawyer had earlier asked the Philippines justice ministry to put him in a witness protection programme after he was involved in smuggling Indonesian-made assault rifles into the Philippines.

Police confirmed that the main suspects in the shooting were involved in an arms smuggling operation uncovered last year.

Jones was shot dead by two men riding in tandem on motorcycles which pulled up alongside his Toyota 4X4 yesterday afternoon. Two other Britons, David Smith, the part-owner of an arms company, and Derek Neville, a yacht skipper, have also been charged in connection with an arms seizure last August.

Jones's wife, who was injured, is being treated in hospital. Senior police superintendent Danilo Bautista said today: "He had complained of receiving death threats in Olangapo city where he has been temporarily staying.

"He believed he had become the target of the foreign gun smuggling syndicate after he disclosed to the police and the media those who he believed were behind the smuggling."

In August last year Jones had been captain of the ship Captain Ufuk in the Philippines off Bataan. But he fled aboard a private yacht, the Mou Man Tai, captained by another Briton, Derek Neville, hours before the Captain Ufuk was raided by Philippines customs officials.

They found crates of Gallil Israeli rifles and ten pistols. The arms, worth $2.4 million, were thought to be for Muslim radicals, communist rebels or private armies of politicians.

Jones later surrendered to authorities and was bailed. His lawyer Joe Frank Zuniega said: "Jones is afraid for his life and claimed that he is a victim and not a suspect. He is expected to disclose information and unmask those behind the operation."

Jones claimed had information which implicated another Briton and senior Filipino police and justice officials.