Charges set vs Bilibid drug lord

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will file tomorrow criminal charges against convicted drug lord Peter Co over the illegal drugs and high-powered firearms seized from his detention cell last December.

Co was among 19 inmates plucked out of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) and transferred to the NBI.

A source from the NBI said Co will be charged for possession of illegal drugs and illegal possession of firearms over the five guns found inside his luxurious kubol (hut).

The source explained that even if the kubol is government property, Co is the occupant and whatever found inside it should be his responsibility.

Records of the Philippine National Police’s Firearms and Explosives Office showed the guns found in Co’s kubol belonged to politicians.

A caliber .22 Walther pistol is supposedly registered in the name of Guimaras Rep. Joaquin Carlos Rahman Nava. The license was approved on Dec. 29, 2011 with an expiry date on Nov. 19, 2015.

A caliber 5.56 Bushmaster rifle with serial number L433821, meanwhile, belongs to losing congressional candidate Carlitos Tiquia. He ran and lost in Valenzuela City in the 2013 elections.

A 9 mm Browning pistol was registered to barangay councilman Vicente Alindada Jr. of Barangay 8 in Sangandaan, Caloocan City.

A fourth gun, also a 9 mm Browning pistol, belonged to Avelino Nicanor, reportedly a government official.

Meanwhile, three more inmates were plucked out of the NBP when a composite team of the country’s law enforcers raided the state penitentiary again yesterday.

A source from the NBI said the inmates belonged to the Batang Cebu gang.

“They were among the suspects in last week’s blast,” an NBI operative said.

Superintendent Richard Schwarzkopf, head of NBP’s maximum-security compound, confirmed one of the inmates was Engelbert Duran.