FROM one cell in the Cebu city jail, 164 packs of suspected shabu were seized in a surprise inspection on Saturday morning.
The drugs, valued at P30,000, were seized from cell number 5 in the deck of inmate Ruseller Diabelos.
Diabellos, a resident of barangay Duljo, Cebu City, has been jailed since 2010 on drug charges
The plastic packs were kept in a plastic container near a carton of cash.
Diabelos said the money was his, but not the drugs. He will be charged with possession of illegal drugs, said Supt. Johnson Calub, the jail warden.
The greyhound operation was made following a tip that illegal drugs were smuggled in the jail during the last visiting day of the week.
The city jail, which is under the PNP Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, has long been criticized by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and his predecessor Tomas Osmeña for mismanagement and corruption.
Calub said some visitors still found a way to smuggle in drugs by hiding them in body cavities. He denied that jail personnel were involved in the activity. /CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON