DOJ probes online drug trade in Bilibid

MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra yesterday ordered the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe the reported illegal drug trade done remotely from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) using the internet.

Guevarra specifically directed the two agencies under the administrative supervision of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to look into information of police that an inmate identified as Rusico Ygot has been able to run illegal drug operations from the national penitentiary.

“I will direct the NBI and BuCor to immediately investigate the matter,” Guevarra said in a text message.

The DOJ chief issued the order after the police operations in Cebu over the weekend that yielded 28 kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, with a street value of P190 million.

According to police, Ygot was giving instructions to his girlfriend, Jocelyn Encilla, in a house that is wired with closed-circuit television (CCTV) which the inmate was able to access through the internet from prison.

This is not the first time that the police discovered that an inmate has been running a crime syndicate while serving sentence at the NBP. 

In July last year, the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Kidnapping Group discovered that inmate Tyrone dela Cruz negotiated for a P15-million ransom payment in exchange for the release of a Chinese businessman kidnapped in Laguna. 

During the first year in office of President Duterte, the DOJ and NBI conducted a massive anti-illegal drug operations in NBP.  

‘Strip inmate of gadgets’

Central Visayas police director Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas has asked BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon to place Ygot in solitary confinement and strip him of his cell phones and other gadgets.

Ygot’s name cropped up during the interrogation of Elymar Tampo Ancajas, Encilla and her parents Marcial and Marilyn, who were arrested in Cebu last Sunday.

They were listed as the Cebu police’s high-value targets for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking, Sinas said.

“It was revealed during our tactical interrogation that Ygot already supplied hundreds of kilos of shabu to his clients in Cebu,” said Col. Remus Medina, Central Visayas police intelligence chief.

“That’s why shabu still remain rampant in the streets of the province despite our daily arrests of bigtime drug pushers and haul of kilos of shabu during sting operations,” he added.

Medina said Encilla transacts with Ygot through cell phones.

“She told me that she bought a kilo of shabu from Ygot for P5 million and sold it in the streets for P10 million,” he said.