PDEA to stop drug trade in BBRC

CEBU, Philippines - Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-7 Director Adrian Alvariño yesterday assured he will work to help jail authorities curtail drug trafficking inside the Cebu City jail even if some jail personnel are reportedly involved in the illegal activities.

Alvariño said he will look for some informers who could help him in the campaign against the smuggling of illegal drugs at the city jail in barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City.

The Central Visayas PDEA director briefed City Hall reporters about the issues of drug trafficking and announced that the number of persons arrested in the region for drug violations from January to June this year had increased compared to the same period last year.

Although Alvariño failed to give the number of drug traffickers arrested while about to smuggle shabu inside the Cebu City jail, jail warden Maria Victoria Jimenez confirmed that there were several persons arrested in possession of shabu while about to visit their detained relatives.

Alvariño refused to reveal his plans on how to counter the activities of the drug couriers at the city jail aside from saying that his personnel have already started gathering information about it.

He also refused to confirm reports about the involvement of some jail guards.

Jimenez welcomed the PDEA’s decision to conduct operations at the city jail.

The jail warden has assured the public that none of her personnel are involved in the smuggling of illegal drugs, saying she knows them because she was one of those who hired these jail guards.

The FREEMAN informer from inside the city jail insisted that the illegal drugs cannot get inside the prison facility without the “blessing” of some unscrupulous jail personnel. But the warden said the drug smugglers probably just threw the illegal drugs to their contacts from outside of the perimeter fence.

More than half of the 2,002 detainees at the Cebu City jail are facing drug-related cases, most of them for selling shabu. Under the law, drug trafficking is not bailable so the suspects will have to remain in jail pending the resolution of their court cases.

According to Alvariño there were more anti-drug operations conducted in Cebu City and other parts of the region during the first five months this year, compared to the same period in 2010. This resulted in the arrest of 480 drug suspects as compared to 366 last year.

Alvariño, however, said it is not safe to conclude that the drug problem in the region has gone worse. The statistics could be because of a strengthened campaign against illegal drugs, he said. – (FREEMAN)