Drugs, cash, phones seized from CPDRC

CEBU, Philippines - More than a month after the Operation Greyhound conducted by operatives inside the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), drugs and other contraband have been found by authorities during another inspection inside a cell at the provincial jail Sunday afternoon.

Personnel of the Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC) seized 6.75 grams of suspected shabu from one detention cell at CPDRC, at least P25,300 cash (in different denominations), 10 cellular phones, one DVD player, and one pocket wifi during a 'mini-greyhound operation.'

Bobby Legaspi, officer-in-charge of CPDRC, said that the target of the operation is an inmate named Emmanuel Lapus from San Fernando town who is one of the detainees in cell number 73.

This after Legaspi got a phone call from a concerned citizen about an inmate who allegedly smuggled drugs inside the jail.

Legaspi said he received the tip around 4:30 in the afternoon and a few hours later, they conducted the operation on cell number 73.

Legaspi said that he believes that the drugs confiscated were for sale, especially since they also found a list of “utang transactions” worth P300,000.

He said they are still investigating how those items were smuggled inside the detention cell, considering the tight security in CPDRC with police presence.

Legaspi suspects that one of the jail guards and personnel may have helped the inmate smuggle the illegal drugs inside the facility.

“Also with that we found a big pisi, a rope, so we’re thinking since its second floor, the way the item got inside the compound probably from the window,” Legaspi said.

Governor Hilario Davide III has already mandated Legaspi to conduct further investigation, including on those jail guards who were on duty during the operation, though he believes the shabu found is just for the consumption of the inmates and not for sale.

Legaspi said Lapus will be placed in isolation while the rest of his cellmates in cell number 73 will be stripped of their privileges, including visitation privileges, for not informing jail management about the contraband materials in their cell.

In the last Operation Greyhound, at least 80 cellular phones and cash amounting to P92,000 were among the contraband seized by CPDRC and the Philippine National Police.

Legaspi said they are working to purchase additional signal jammers to place inside detention cells.  (FREEMAN)