Probers claim QC jail riot ‘staged’ to oust warden

File photo of a jail facility in Quezon City under the supervision of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP). INQUIRER PHOTO /NINO JESUS ORBETA

A search conducted by the jail management bureau and the police has found that the recent riot at the Quezon City Jail male dormitory was deliberately done to force the warden out and allow the drug trade inside the facility to continue.

The search was conducted by jail officials, along with the Quezon City police on Monday, days after the riot on May 13 that left one inmate dead and nine others injured.

Citing intelligence information, jail warden Supt. Michelle Bonto said on Thursday that the riot was “purposely carried out” so that she would be relieved, allowing the “illegal drug trade [to] freely proliferate in the jail.”

The “Oplan Greyhound” operation targeted the jail cells previously occupied by Batang City Jail gang members who turned out to be the ones behind the disturbance.

Biggest number

Found during the search were 700 grams of marijuana and repacking materials, a stash of firearms, improvised bladed weapons, dozens of arrows made out of concrete nails, slingshots, and electronic gadgets such as cell phones.

According to Bonto, this was the biggest number of deadly weapons and stash of illegal drugs found in the jail’s male dormitory.

She said they started determining the exact location of the hidden drugs and weapons several months ago through “covert operations in finding out the extent of the illegal drug trade in jail.”

READ: One killed, nine wounded in QC jail riot