Central African man confessed to killing Filipina found in suitcase in Egypt

DFA spokesman Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — A Central African man has confessed to the killing of a Filipino woman found inside a suitcase dumped in Cairo, Egypt, almost two weeks ago, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Wednesday.

The Philippine Embassy in Cairo reported to the home office, on Wednesday, that Egyptian authorities have arrested the woman’s confessed killer, the victim’s co-worker from the Central African Republic. Details of the arrest were not immediately available.

“While under police custody, the suspect confessed that he committed the crime and that it was premeditated,” the DFA said.

“The suspect and the victim were co-workers,” DFA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

“The police’s findings were corroborated by the pieces of information provided by the victim’s friends,” said the official.

The DFA did not release the names of both the victim and the suspect as well as their place of work in Egypt.

The confession set aside any possible links of the Filipino woman’s death to the ongoing violence amid worsening political instability in Egypt, which had prompted the Philippines to evacuate some 6,000 Filipinos from the Arab country.

Hernandez said the woman’s relatives in the Philippines were informed of her death on August 21. Egyptian authorities might release her body in two weeks, said the official.

The woman’s body was found in a suitcase at a dump in Cairo’s Nasr City on August 18, a day after her friend reported her missing. She was last seen on August 12.

Repatriations from Egypt continue, meanwhile, with 15 expected to arrive from Cairo on Friday and nine leaving for Manila on September 1.

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