Bilibid drug lord tagged in P47 million shabu haul

MANILA, Philippines — A drug convict has once again become the subject of an investigation over the alleged continued drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa after police confiscated P47.6 million worth of shabu in Cebu City that allegedly came from him.

Philippine National Police chief Gen. Camilo Cascolan said he has ordered the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (DEG) to coordinate with other law enforcement agencies to determine if Rustico Ygot, who was convicted of drug trafficking in 2013, was the supplier of the contraband.

During a drug sting in Cebu on Sunday, one of the three arrested suspects squealed on Ygot, saying he was their source.

“I have directed the DEG to coordinate with the Phillippine Drug Enforcement Agency and Bureau of Corrections to validate information about the alleged continued illegal drug operations by a convicted drug lord while in prison,” Cascolan said at a press briefing yesterday.

In March, the PNP served a freeze order issued by the Anti-Money Laundering Council on two of Ygot’s properties in Cebu.

Last year, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to build a case on Ygot’s alleged continuous drug trade in Bilibid.

The BuCor has been conducting drug raids, but inmates and outside contacts have continued to smuggle contraband into the NBP.