Bilibid’s next tack vs smuggling: Nets atop walls

Raided for the sixth time since Nov. 4, the maximum security compound of New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City yielded a fresh caché of weapons, cash, gadgets, appliances and other contraband on Wednesday.

As a new measure against the unabated smuggling, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) will soon install a net barrier on top of the existing wall to increase its height and make it more difficult for anyone outside to throw objects over.

“There have been reported cases of goods acquired by prisoners by just having someone tossing the goods in from outside. The nets would hopefully solve that particular problem,” NBP superintendent Richard Schwarzkopf Jr. told the Inquirer.

The net barrier could be least three meters high and serve as an extension of the ten meter-high wall enclosing the nine-hectare compound, he said.

Starting next year, Schwarzkopf said, the NBP would also limit to three kilos the weight of items brought by visitors for the inmates per visit.

Schwarzkopf cited the new security measures as the latest raid under the BuCor’s “Oplan Galugad” yielded about 215 bladed weapons, 40 shotgun rounds, 41 cell phones, 42 speakers, two pocket Wi-Fi sticks, a disco ball and four sets of disco lights, nine LED TVs, and motorbike parts.

Wednesday’s search involved 167 Bilibid personnel and was conducted around 5 a.m. at Building 13 of Quadrant 3, an area occupied by 782 convicts mostly belonging to the “Batang Cebu” gang.

The earlier raids under Galugad were conducted on Nov. 4, 7, 11, 21 and 24. The six raids have confiscated a total of about 10,700 pieces of contraband and P446,210 in cash, according to BuCor records.