ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Illegal drug traders have continued to spread their market and influence even from behind bars.
This was what the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) had surmised amid persistent reports that a good volume of illegal drugs being traded here in the province allegedly came from sources inside the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
"But these are still subject for validation," clarified IPPO director Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas, adding that the trail of the trade is something to be verified first. "And if there's a semblance of truth to such reports, we need the other law enforcement agencies to act on the matter," he said.
Salinas said some arrested drug personalities in the province squealed they got their supply from someone in the NBP. "There are detained Chinese drug lords and other illegal drug traders in the NBP and all they need are mobile phones to continue their transactions," he surmised.
Last month, members of the IPPO Intelligence Branch arrested a suspected drug peddler and three others in a buy bust operation.
Renante Braga, 34, of Barangay Bacabac in Sara town of Iloilo, was collared allegedly in possession of P1.2 million worth of shabu. Romel Plogio, Kenneth Obillos and Joesan Superal were also arrested and hauled to court.
A police informant claimed that Braga sourced out his shabu from his contacts at the NBP. Recently, Salinas told several chiefs of police not to sleep on their job while the province wages war against illegal drugs.
He directed his warning at the municipal police stations in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts, as he noted that most drug busts happened in the 4th and 5th districts of the province. (FREEMAN)