Policewoman dies in ambush; drugs eyed

MANILA, Philippines - A policewoman described by her colleagues as an anti-illegal drug crusader was killed in an ambush in Manila on Sunday night.

Police Officer 1 Jorsan Marie Alafriz, of Lope de Vega street in Sta. Cruz, was driving her car on her way to the Barbosa Police Community Precinct (PCP) in Quiapo when she was waylaid by two men on a motorcycle at past 10 p.m.

Members of the Plaza Miranda PCP rushed Alafriz to the Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center where she was declared dead on arrival from gunshots to the body.

Closed-circuit television footage showed the gunmen waiting for Alafriz minutes before she passed by the area.

Case investigator Senior Police Officer 4 Glenzor Vallejo of the Manila Police District (MPD) homicide unit said the assailants walked toward the victim’s Mitsubishi Mirage (NP 9583) and fired.

The car crashed into parked tricycles in the area following the shooting.

Witnesses said the assailants fled toward Claro M. Recto Avenue after the attack.

Police investigators recovered over a dozen 9mm casings at the scene.

Anti-drug advocate

Alafriz, who was assigned with the Barbosa PCP for nine months, was known by her colleagues as an anti-drug advocate, according to Vallejo.

An official of the MPD said they were looking at illegal drugs as a possible motive for the killing as Alafriz provided information about drug personalities in Sta. Cruz.

The official said Alafriz, a member of the Philippine National Police Academy’s class of Makisig, was responsible for the arrest of a drug peddler who had gone big-time.

Operatives of the MPD intelligence unit and homicide division looked for an alias Jekjek along Lope de Vega street to shed light on the murder of Alafriz.