5 inmates moved to NBI after Bilibid raid

Prison guards look at the guns and other contraband found in one of the raids on the New Bilibid Prisons amid the crackdown by the Department of Justice on its so-called VIPs (very important prisoners). JOAN BONDOC/INQUIRER

MANILA, Philippines—Five inmates of the National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City have been transferred to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters in Manila after a raid on Saturday, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said Sunday morning.

De Lima said Gianfranco “Gean” Pasco, Engelbert Durano, Noel “Mong” Arnejo, Joselito Valiente and Brando Ramirez were moved to NBI custody after a raid at the NBP produced illegal contraband in their possession.

Pasco, Durano and Arnejo are drug lords and De Lima said that they “were the real targets” of Saturday’s operations.

“In the course of yesterday’s operations, the fourth (Valiente) and fifth (Ramirez) were also found in the kubols supposedly belonging to Pasco and Durano where very incriminating evidence” were found, De Lima said.

Among the contraband found were notebooks and pieces of paper containing data on amounts and grams relating to drug transactions, the secretary said.

The Bureau of Corrections, NBI, Special Action Force, Muntinlupa police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency raided the prison Saturday morning and seized cash which amounted to the hundreds of thousands, ledgers, notebooks and mobile phones.

In a previous INQUIRER report, BuCor director Franklin Jesus Bucayu said that the raid was a “surprise inspection” wherein several inmate kubols in suspicion of possessing illegal contraband and luxurious items were the targets of the raid.

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