Shabu, P25K cash, cell phones seized from cell

ABOUT P25,000 in cash, 10 cell phones, one pocket Wi-Fi router and 6.75 grams of suspected shabu were seized from a cell occupied by a drug dealer inside the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) during last Sunday’s Operation Greyhound.

Acting Provincial Warden Bobby Legaspi said a raid occurred inside Cell No. 73 at 5:30 p.m. last Sunday after they received a tip an hour earlier on the contraband received by Emmanuel Lapus, a San Fernando town native.

Lapus is said to rank high on the watch list of drug suspects in San Fernando town according to Supt. Mario Baquiran, chief of the police’s Cebu Provincial Public Safety Company.

Also taken from Lapus’s cell were one DVD player and several improvised bladed weapons.

Legaspi said Lapus may have sold shabu based on the list taken from his possession.

The list contained the names of shabu customers and transactions amounting to P300,000.

Legaspi said they are still verifying the exact number of inmates inside Cell No. 73, but Legaspi said a single cell is usually shared by 32 inmates.

“Yes, Cell No. 73 is located on the opposite side of the compound, so definitely we will consider placing signal jammers there,” he said.

Legaspi said this incident prompted them to suspend the visitation privileges of the relatives of the inmates.

Legaspi said Lapus is now in isolation and the contraband are now in the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-7).

He said he has little doubt that the contraband were smuggled in with the help of CPDRC employees.

Legaspi said jail guards found a rope that may have been used to smuggle the contraband inside the cell.

Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III ordered an investigation into the incident on hearing the report.

“I suspected that the drugs were for the consumption of the inmates, but the list shows otherwise. I want to know how the contraband still entered the

jail when there is tight security in the jail,” Davide told reporters.