Bilibid raid: Guns, gadgets, booze

MANILA, Philippines – Firearms, various gadgets and gallons of coconut wine were seized in the latest raid on the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) yesterday morning.

The Bureau of Corrections, which conducted the raid under its “Oplan Galugad,” searched the NBP’s Dormitory Building 9, which houses inmates who are members of the Sputnik gang; and 14, which houses drug lords and other high-profile convicts who were earlier caught with contraband, NBP spokesman Msgr. Roberto Olaguer said.

He said a .38 caliber revolver, a .45 caliber pistol, a radio-controlled toy helicopter, old television sets, several mobile phones, mobile phone signal boosters and containers filled with “tuba” or coconut wine were found in Dormitory Building 9.

“The tuba is probably meant for Christmas,” Olaguer said.

The search of Dormitory Building 14, meanwhile, yielded several mobile phones and a wi-fi router, he added.

Olaguer said the raids are regularly done to complement the random frisking of inmates.

Television sets, refrigerators, bladed weapons, mobile phones and other contraband were found during a raid on several dormitories at the NBP’s maximum security compound on Nov. 11.

BuCor director Ricardo Rainier Cruz III had earlier ordered the raids to continue.

A previous raid done a few weeks ago at the dormitory of Commando and Sigue-Sigue Sputnik gangs led to the seizure of a large cache of firearms buried in one of the detention cells.

The prison guards also seized mobile phones, television sets, air-conditioning units and sex toys from the cells during the search.

At least 14,000 convicts are detained in the nine-hectare NBP compound.