Cebu cops in hot water after contraband found in jail
CEBU CITY—Policemen in a northern Cebu police station are facing investigation after banned items were found inside the station’s detention facility.
Col. Alladin Collado, Cebu provincial police chief, ordered an investigation of how the contraband was able to get past officers of the Liloan police station.
“The responsibility of the jailers is to check all items brought by relatives” of those in jail, he said.
Among the items found in the detention facility were 19 mobile phones, phone charger, two reams of cigarettes, tattooing tools, P2,600 in cash, two packets of suspected shabu, or crystal meth, and assorted drug paraphernalia.
Last Saturday (March 21) intelligence officers conducted a surprise search in all police stations in Cebu province to check if their detention cells were clean.
Of all 44 towns and component cities under the provincial police office, the Liloan station yielded the most banned items during the inspection.
Collado said there will be more surprise infections, known as Greyhound operations, in the coming days to prevent contraband from being smuggled into police jails.
“It will serve as a warning to everybody. We are not tolerating our personnel’s inattentiveness in doing their duties,” he said.
Collado said he will rotate the assignments of policemen to prevent them from fraternizing with inmates.
“The police force vows to conduct an impartial investigation on the matter,” he said.
All detention cells in Cebu, he said, were packed because inmates had to wait for court orders for their transfer to a bigger jail, the Cebu provincial detention and rehabilitation center in Cebu City.
