CONTRABANDS, including two medium packs of suspected shabu, were recovered from inmates during a greyhound operation conducted at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) by jail personnel and operatives from the Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC), Special Weapons and Tactics and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency around 6 a.m. yesterday.
Aside from regular detainees, “high-value targets” like suspected drug lord Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro were also subjected to the operation.
Supt. Mario Baquiran Jr, PPSC head, said that they also questioned Alvaro, but he did not disclose what the latter said.
After partially strip searching the inmates and inspecting CPDRC’s 26 cells, operatives recovered various items, such as illegal drug paraphernalia, items used to repack illegal drugs, gadgets, cigarettes, cash and items used for the illegal numbers game.
They also recovered two packs of shabu worth P71,980.
The drugs were recovered from Jerryfer Perigrino and Jeffrey Blanco, two other high-profile detainees.
Audesti Miguel, CPDRC assistant warden, told reporters that compared to previous greyhound operations, they recovered fewer contraband yesterday.
Miguel said they might suspend visitation rights of detainees caught with contraband.
However, he said that they need to improve security at the CPDRC to prevent the smuggling of contraband.
But he did not discount the possibility that jail personnel are helping detainees with the smuggling.
Gov. Hilario Davide III, for his part, said that it can no longer be certain that the CPDRC is 100 percent clean of contraband, but he assured that they will continue to clean up the jail. (With AZDL)