Bilibid raid: Shotguns, more contraband seized

MANILA, Philippines - Improvised shotguns, ammunition and bladed weapons were confiscated by personnel of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) during a raid on the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City yesterday.

NBP Superintendent Richard Schwartzkopf said the raid started at 5 a.m. and ended at 9:30 a.m.

BuCor agents swooped down on the maximum security compound’s Building 4, which houses members of the Batang City Jail, and Building 13 where members of the Batang Cebu gang are detained.

The search also yielded several appliances and electronic gadgets.

Earlier, the NBP said it was planning to raise the walls of the national penitentiary to thwart the entry of contraband.

Roberto Olaguer, spokesman for the NBP, said the project would push through when funding becomes available.

“The walls should be high enough to prevent escape and prevent contraband from being thrown over the fence,” Olaguer said.

In a series of raids on the prison’s dormitories under “Oplan Galugad,” prison authorities have confiscated various firearms, explosives, liquor, mobile phones, a radio-controlled toy helicopter, sex toys and flat-screen television sets.

Olaguer said searches of the different NBP dormitories for contraband would be conducted regularly to complement the random frisking of inmates.

BuCor Director Ricardo Rainier Cruz III said the raids on the national penitentiary would continue until the prison facility is cleared of contraband.

Earlier this month, a raid on the dormitory of the Commando and Sigue-Sigue Sputnik gangs led to the seizure of a large cache of firearms that was buried in one of the detention cells.

The prison guards seized cell phones, television sets, air conditioning units and sex toys during the search.

More than 50 high-value inmates, including drug lords and murderers, are detained at the prison’s maximum security compound. At least 14,000 convicts are serving time in the nine-hectare NBP compound.

Meanwhile, Olaguer said the series of raids on the prison dormitories may have contributed to a drop in the prison’s electricity consumption.

He said the NBP’s electricity consumption decreased by 10 percent in the last three weeks following the seizure of electrical appliances from the inmates.