Police say inmates control drug trade from City Jail

CEBU, Philippines —  About 90 percent of suspects arrested for illegal drug violations in operations conducted by the Cebu City Intelligence Unit admitted to having made a transaction with inmates from the City Jail.

According to Police Lt. Colonel Randy Caballes, CIU chief, at least 10 names of inmates have been revealed by the arrested suspects.

Since January until present, at least 100 individuals have been arrested for illegal drug offenses conducted by the unit.

“Based sa interview sa mga arrested suspects, ang ilaha gyung iingon nga source is from city jail personalities. So meaning, ang transaction moagi gyud didto sa city jail, then sila na ang tag-distribute diri sa gawas,” Caballes told reporters.

He added that these arrested suspects were found to be not connected to one another, and are possibly not operating as a group.

Based on their Intelligence monitoring, each inmate mentioned has a particular area of distribution for illegal drug trading.

Caballes said they found out that their method of transaction is through phone conversation, particularly Facebook Messenger or phone call.

“These personalities nga naa sa city jail, naa ni silay mga direct nga gipangsaligan nila…mga trusted men nga naa diri sa gawas nga can freely move,” said Caballes.

These “trusted individuals” are reportedly in charge of the distribution of illegal drugs. These trusted men, in turn, have another person or persons who will be distributing the illegal drugs on the ground.

Caballes said that the names of inmates revealed by the arrested suspects were not new to the police.

They have long been long identified to be “bigtimers” in illegal drug trading.

“Naa sila sa atong listahan but separate list ang naa sa city jail. Naa sad tay separate list nga actually naa pa sa ground,” said Caballes.

Furthermore, Caballes said that they have continuous coordination with the Cebu City Jail to address the problem.

“They have done man sad their part, nag-conduct sila og greyhound regularly and may result man, Makakuha man sila og cellphones and other contrabands nga dili dapat sa sulod,” said Caballes. — JMD (FREEMAN)