CAUGHT IN THE ACT Mark Joseph Sagales is arrested after he was caught throwing something over the 12-foot-high perimeter wall of the New Bilibid Prison. —PHOTO COURTESY OF BUCOR PIO
With no one allowed in or out of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) which has been locked down for the past three months to stop the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), inmates looking for ways to sneak drugs inside have resorted to hiring people to throw the contraband over the fence. Around 5:30 p.m. Monday, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) personnel caught Mark Joseph Sagales outside the perimeter wall. Seized from the 21-year-old suspect were 300 grams of “shabu” (crystal meth) worth P2 million hidden inside a sack of rice. According to a report, BuCor personnel were patrolling the vicinity when they spotted Sagales and another man throwing something over the 12-feet perimeter fence near Buildings 2 and 3 in the eastern portion of the maximum security compound.
Sagales was arrested but his companion managed to escape. The resident of Southville 3—a resettlement site inside the NBP reservation at Barangay Poblacion—denied the drugs were his, saying the sack of rice came from a friend who had contacted him about cutting someone’s hair.
Sagales was turned over to the Muntinlupa police. He faces charges of violation of the Comprehensive and Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Although there have been several instances of drugs being lobbed inside the NBP compound, most of the contraband are reportedly being sneaked in by visitors or unscrupulous prison guards.
The national penitentiary, however, has been in lockdown since March 11 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 inside the congested facility. Visits have been suspended while jail guards have been restricted to quarters.At the moment, there are 170 confirmed COVID-19 cases at the NBP, consisting of 140 inmates and 30 BuCor employees. INQ