While trying to enter Cebu City Jail: Girl, 10, caught carrying drugs

CEBU, Philippines — Smuggling of illegal drugs and other contrabands into the Cebu City Jail persists under a supposedly very tight security.

The result of the greyhound operation yesterday suggested that contrabands still find their way into the facility under the noses of jail officials. But some attempts to sneak in drugs were intercepted.

Cebu City Jail warden Renante Rubio said he foiled on Wednesday another attempt to smuggle a pack of shabu using a 10-year-old girl whose father was jailed for illegal drugs.

Rubio said the girl rolled a pack of shabu in a P100 bill when she tried to enter the facility last Wednesday supposedly to visit her father.

“They are using the minors. Gahapon (Wednesday) naa koy nadakpan nga 10-year-old nga babaye, ang shabu ini gibutang sa kwarta tapos gigunitan,” Rubio said.

According to him, the girl was holding the money but he found out a pack of shabu with it when he checked. Unfortunately, her adult companion was not identified and got away.

The minor was taken into the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development because she could not be held criminally liable.

According to Rubio, the girl was allegedly brought by her mother but the latter disappeared after her daughter was caught.

“Ang bata naa pud among nadakpan, wa pa namo ma-identify ang ginikanan, gi-briefing sa, di sad mostorya ang bata, gi-turn over namo sa DSWD,” he said.

“So dili sila mosulod sa, unahon nila ang bata. Ang among gibuhat effective karon, dili mi-mo-search og dalaw nga bata kung di namo ma-identify kung kinsa ang kuyog nga tiguwang para kung madakpan namo, file-an namo og kaso ang tiguwang,” he said.

Rubio said there have been other similar cases involving minors being used to bring in contrabands. He vowed that adults using children to sneak in drugs and other contrabands will be charged in court.

Greyhound

Joint operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-7, Philippine National Police, and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology confiscated yesterday several drug paraphernalia, electronic gadgets, and weapons.

“Actually, finishing touches nalang ni kay for the last two weeks ang atong greyhound halos kada adlaw. Cleansing nalang ni siya, mao na wala tay nakuha nga drugs,” Rubio said.

PDEA-7 regional director Emerson Margate said that the drug paraphernalia found inside the jail facility is an indication that shabu is still present inside.

Reports reaching PDEA-7 had it that the price of shabu inside the facility has soared high because of the scarcity of supply.

Margate said that based on their information a five-gram pack of shabu is sold at P40,000 inside the City Jail.

 “Distribution is sa loob nalang and for personal consumption,” Margate said. (FREEMAN)