Packets of shabu and a gun with live ammunition were among the items seized in a raid inside the Cebu City Jail on Thursday dawn, May 6, 2021. | Photo courtesy of PDEA -7 via Morexette Marie Erram
CEBU CITY, Philippines—Illegal drugs worth over P1 million were among those confiscated in a greyhound operation at the Cebu City Jail on Thursday dawn, May 6, 2021.
Jail Superintendent Jose Rusylvi Abueva, warden of the Cebu City Jail, confirmed this to reporters in a post-operation interview on Thursday morning.
The joint operation by the Central Visayas offices of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP-7) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) yielded several contraband items including a total of 32 grams of illegal drugs believed to be shabu (local term of methamphetamine), a .45 caliber-pistol, 20 rounds of .45-caliber live ammunition, one piece magazine, assorted drug paraphernalia, and bladed weapons.
Abueva said they sought the help of PDEA-7 after they received reports of contraband items, particularly illegal drugs, being smuggled into the facility.
“We conducted monitoring and verification until we decided to implement the greyhound. Our forces started preparing as early as 2 a.m., then by 3 a.m., they began inspecting the cells,” said Abueva in Cebuano.
Meanwhile, the jail official said the inmates who were found in possession with the contraband items will be undergoing evaluation by their disciplinary board. This is on top of being separated from other prisoners.
He added that they will also conduct their own investigation to determine how the illegal drugs got inside the penal facility undetected.
“We are also looking into how these contraband were smuggled, and we have multiple possibilities to explain this,” Abueva said.
“The commonly used method is called’ bombing,’ in which outsiders throw the drugs over the wall and fence. Even we have already placed a net near the wall and fence, some still manage to get them without alerting our security,” he added.
The Cebu City Jail is located in Barangay Kalunasan. It houses over 6,000 prisoners, making it one of the country’s overcrowded jailhouses.
/bmjo
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