THE Justice department is considering deploying police commandos at the medium security compound of the New Bilibid Prison after receiving reports that drug deals had moved there from the maximum security compound.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguire II said the Special Action Forces of the Philippine National Police had recently managed to confiscate a plastic bag of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” inside the maximum security compound where they have been deployed.
Aguirre said he is confident illegal drugs can no longer be smuggled inside, but said there may still be illegal drugs hidden inside.
At the medium security compound, he noted the authorities arrested inmates in a buy-bust operation last August. The inmates were charged and moved to the maximum-security compound.
The department also installed two South Korea-made signal jammers at the maximum security compound to prevent inmates from communicating with their contacts outside the penitentiary. More closed-circuit TV cameras have also been installed.
More than 300 PNP-SAF personnel were deployed to secure the maximum-security compound, replacing jail guards of the Bureau of Corrections, who were made to undergo retraining by the bureau.
In the campaign against illegal drugs, police arrested a suspected “shabu queen” and three of her sons at dawn Friday.
Supt. Vicente Cabatingan, chief of police of Los Baños, Laguna identified the arrested woman as Rosalina Lumaybay, 56; her sons Roberto, alias Betong, 30; Rolando, alias Gibo, 33 and Leo, 20, alias Adaw, al residents of No. 3330 Tagpuan St. Brgy. Bayog.
Cabatingan said Lumaybay was arrested shortly after she sold a plastic sachet of shabu worth P500 to a narcotics agent at their compound in Purok 1, Tagpuan Street.
“Rosalina has been selling shabu in the towns of Pila, Bay, Victoria and Los Baños. She took over the selling of shabu from his husband after the latter was arrested and convicted of selling illegal drugs,” Cabatingan said.
In Cebu City, agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and local police arrested a notorious pusher following an entrapment operation.
PDEA Director General Isidro S. Lapeña identified the suspect as Jonathan Bolo, 35, a resident of Balud, San Fernando, Cebu City, who was nabbed during a drug bust in Sitio Magtalisay, Barangay Balud, San Fernando, Cebu.
Police seized four packs of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, weighing about 25 grams, with an estimated street value of P90,000.
Bolo’s brother Michael, 31, evaded arrest and is still at large. With Francisco Tuyay