BJMP 7 Chief Orders Relief of Cebu City Jail Warden

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) 7 ordered on Sunday the relief of the Cebu City jail warden and 30 jail guards after a pre-dawn raid Saturday discovered more than PHP4.6 million believed to be proceeds of illegal drugs and some PHP1 million worth of shabu in the facility.

Chief Supt. Allan Iral, BJMP 7 director, said Supt. Johnson Calub, the Cebu City jail warden, has until Aug. 16 to pack up his belongings and leave the jail premises in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City.

“It’s now time for them to go. They have become too familiar with the inmates. We must disrupt any closeness they have with each other,” Iral said.

A joint team from several law enforcement agencies conducted an Oplan Galugad or Greyhound Operation at about 1 a.m. Saturday.

The operation was conducted by various units from the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) 7, and the Philippine Coast Guard with their drug-sniffing dogs.

PDEA 7 Director Yogi Ruiz said the amount of shabu found inside the jail was alarming.

Earlier, PRO 7 Director Noli Taliño said they were verifying information from a former inmate who claimed drug users were posing as visitors in order to buy and use illegal drugs inside the facility, making it a drug “tiangge” or a drug den.

“They have turned the jail into a one-stop-shop and a drug den. Some junkies posed as visitors in order to use shabu inside, because they were afraid of the Tokhang operations outside,” Talino said.

Aside from the cash and drugs, the raiding team also found items that were not allowed inside the jail, like laptops, portable wi-fi, flat-screen TVs, cellular phones, branded shoes, bundles of cash, and five pails full of PHP5 and PHP10 coins.

The Cebu City jail, which was built for only 1,600 inmates, now houses a total of 3,089 prisoners. (PNA) SCS/EB/SSC