‘Drug ring’ inside Bohol jail uncovered

Drug dealing, even from behind prison bars, unravels at the Bohol District Jail (BDJ) as authorities crackdown on inmates operating like a syndicate that has turned the detention facility into a virtual trading hub of illegal drugs.

Jail guards seized approximately 20-grams of shabu (metamphetamine hydrochloride) during another surprise “greyhound” inspection on Tuesday, the second within a month’s span at the district jail, which yielded sachets of the illegal substance, various paraphernalia for its use, improvised weapons and cellphones.

The street value of the confiscated shabu is estimated at P300,000, according to jail warden S/Insp. Richard Laure, who ordered the thorough inspection of all detention cells and prisoners’ facilities.

Intelligence reports alerted the jail warden which cited that a group of inmates, running a drug syndicate within the BDJ, have just received a “new delivery” of the illegal substance shabu.

The intelligence information may have been proven correct but the jail warden is unsuspecting of a so-called “drug ring” inside the detention facility, whose drug pushing operation reaches beyond the prison walls.

Two inmates disclosed to the Chronicle, on condition of anonymity, that a group of inmates, mostly detained for charges of illegal drug activities, are running their drug trade inside and outside the prison through a network of couriers and pushers.

The couriers are the ones going in and out of the prison compound sneaking in the illegal drug shabu and sometimes amounts of cash, either as payments from drug pushers who sell their stash on consignment-basis out in the streets, or for the purchase of new stock from suppliers in Cebu or northern Mindanao.

To break their routine, at times drugs are smuggled in and consigned out, using tennis balls with a small incision, which also serves the purpose of passing on money, that are thrown from outside the jail premises, or vice versa.

“It may sound ingenious but the method is made a lot easier with cellphones that coordinate the transfer of drugs and money,” said the Chronicle sources.

Although cellphones are disallowed inside the detention facility, somehow, the mobile devices are smuggled in during scheduled visitations.

On Wednesday, Gov. Edgar Chatto issued a 24-hour ultimatum to S/Insp. Laure to explain how illegal drugs get smuggled into the facility despite the improved security checks and measures.

Chatto said jailers who might be involved in the modus operandi should be identified and investigated by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

During the “greyhound” inspection at the BDJ on Tuesday, two packs of shabu (referred to as “bulto” packed in 5-grams) and a total of 43 medium and small-sized sachets were discovered by jailers in Cell No. 4, the same cell where a 5-gram “bulto” stash and 4 smaller sachets were seized in a previous “greyhound” search last month.

Inmate Enrico Peticio, 39, was also found in possession of another 22 sachets containing the illegal substance at the jail’s canteen during the inspection.