6 Bilibid guards probed for drugs

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is investigating six guards after mobile phones and illegal drugs were found in their lockers during a raid on the medium security compound of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.

BuCor director Ricardo Rainier Cruz did not name the guards until investigators can determine if the mobile phones and drugs were items recovered from detainees that the prison guards have not yet submitted to the proper officials.

The medium security compound, also known as Camp Sampaguita, is a few kilometers away from the maximum security compound and houses about 7,000 convicts.

The raiding team also seized several television sets, DVD players, pirated DVDs, fighting cocks and playing cards during the five-hour search of the compound’s seven dormitories. 

The raiding team also inspected the NBP’s reception and diagnostic center, where newly admitted convicts are confined while they undergo a battery of tests before they are transferred to the main prison compound.

In previous raids, BuCor personnel seized firearms, illegal drugs, cash, improvised bladed weapons, gadgets, Wi-Fi routers, appliances and other contraband from prison inmates.