ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines - The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-6 is alarmed about the likely probability that illegal drugs trade may be happening inside the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Ungka, Jaro, Iloilo City. This was disclosed by PDEA-6 Regional Director Paul Ledesma after 110 sachets of shabu were seized inside the jail in Ungka, Jaro, Iloilo City earlier this week. "This only confirmed reports that there is indeed drug trade going inside the jail," Ledesma said. While he applauded the BJMP-Iloilo City's own initiative in conducting the search and seizure of contraband drugs, he expressed disappointment about how easy it was for prohibited drugs to be smuggled inside the jail. PDEA-6 has reason to believe that the Iloilo City jail has been converted into a safe storage place for illegal drugs. Ledesma noted that bulk transactions must have been made inside the jail before the drugs were distributed outside its walls. The PDEA-6 official, however, lamented that the agency does not have the authority to conduct buy-bust operations within the jail's premises. He said the 110 sachets of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride, or "shabu" were recovered from a sack of rice outside the cell of Levy Zerrudo, a well-known drug personality linked to the Odicta drug group. Zerrudo was recently convicted of illegal drug charges and is due for transfer to the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa.
On the other hand, BJMP-Iloilo City considered the discovery as a "wake-up call." "There is really something very wrong, considering that the drugs made it inside here," admitted jail warden, J/Supt. Joel Superficial. Superficial noted that the Iloilo City jail's own greyhound operation which resulted to finding of and seizure of the shabu sachets will now be followed by a reassessment of the effectiveness of jail management. Meanwhile, security measures, including thorough inspection of items brought in by incoming visitors inside the Iloilo jail have been tightened.
