Cell phone smuggle try in Bilibid foiled

MANILA, Philippines - Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director Ricardo Rainier Cruz recently foiled an attempt to smuggle a cell phone inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.

Cruz said he was conducting an inspection of the maximum security compound when he saw a “flying object” pass overhead and land on the roof of the prison facility.

“I heard a thud as the object landed on the roof so I ordered a prison guard to retrieve it,” Cruz told The STAR.

When checked, the box yielded a cell phone apparently intended for one of the 53 high-profile convicts serving time at the NBP.

Cruz said the “over the bakod (fence)” scheme is one of the strategies of the convicts to sneak banned items and other contraband into the prison facility.

He said they found out that informal settlers living near the prison complex hurled mobile phones and other prohibited devices to prisoners in the past.

The BuCor will coordinate with concerned government agencies for the relocation of informal settlers in the area, Cruz said.