NCRPO targets Bilibid drug lords

MANILA, Philippines — A police official disclosed yesterday that intelligence agents were deployed to target drug convicts in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City who continue their drug trade and their protectors in the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said Metro Manilans suffer the brunt of the proliferation of shabu in the metropolis because of the detainees’ continued drug peddling.

Eleazar said several drug suspects arrested by his men during raids in Metro Manila claimed they got their shabu through networks operated by drug convicts in the NBP.

“Those we arrested claimed their source of shabu is inside the jail facility. They don’t know the identity of the person they are talking with on the cell phone, but he gave them directions – where the illegal drugs are kept – and the delivery is always in the affirmative,” said Eleazar.

“We want to put to an end this type of racket by the detained drug lords. So we would closely monitor them, including their BuCor employees-cohorts,” he added.

On Monday, Eleazar deployed intelligence agents, dubbed as “quad-intel force,” at the liaison office inside NBP premises to monitor the detained drug lords and their BuCor cohorts.

The quad-intel force is composed of intelligence agents of the NCRPO, military, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

This is aside from the 551 personnel of NCRPO’s Regional Police Safety Batallion (RPSB) who would take over from the Special Action Force (SAF) the job of securing the NBP.

According to Eleazar, the intelligence agents would gather and list the names of detained drug lords and their BuCor cohorts still peddling drugs and coordinate with BuCor director general Gerald Bantag to sanction the suspects.

“We would only be involved in securing the NBP and intelligence gathering and the main operator would be general Bantag as he is in charge of crafting measures to deny them from continuing their drug business inside the jail premises,” said Eleazar.

The deployment of the quad-intel force is one of the reforms being implemented by Bantag to curb the illegal drugs business in the country as ordered by President Duterte. – With Ralph Edwin Villanueva