By Allen Estabillo | Philippine News Agency
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Personnel of the South Cotabato provincial jail foiled on Tuesday (Oct. 5) another attempt by unidentified persons to sneak illegal drugs into the facility.
Lory Celeste, acting provincial jail warden, said their guards intercepted past 11:00 a.m. a plastic package containing suspected shabu that was thrown from outside the high-fenced facility.
He said the package, which was covered in paper and attached to a stone, contained six assorted sachets of shabu.
“Our guards saw the package as it was thrown inside and immediately seized it,” Celeste said in a radio interview.
The official said they checked the footage of the security cameras installed at the jail’s perimeter fence but it failed to capture the incident.
But reports said a person aboard a motorcycle was seen stopping by the area where the package was believed to have been thrown, and hastily left the scene.
Celeste said the incident was not the first time they have intercepted various illegal drugs at the facility in the past months.
He said an informant disclosed that some shabu supplies were recently sneaked into the facility but only got wet, prompting them to conduct random drug tests among the inmates.
Two of the five inmates tested on Monday (Oct. 4) turned out positive for shabu while another was added to the list among the 15 inmates screened on Tuesday, he said.
“The testing will continue while we investigate these incidents,” Celeste said.
He said they turned over the recovered shabu on Tuesday to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for proper examination and valuation.
Celeste said the PDEA-Region, through its South Cotabato provincial office, has been assisting them in addressing the problem through random testing and surprise inspections. (PNA) – bny
