NBP raid yields spiders, cell phones

BLADED weapons, cell phones, several appliances that included a chest freezer and 11 spiders used by inmates to place bets were among the banned items seized at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City during a surprise raid on Tuesday.

NBP head Supt. Richard Schwarzkopf said that the inspection conducted by 120 personnel of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) began at 5 a.m. and covered Buildings 1, 3 and 6 at the medium-security compound.

The three-hour operation, according to a report, resulted in the seizure of 36 bladed weapons, including a knife and an ice pick; 10 batons; nine portable DVD players; eight colored television sets, and three speakers from Buildings 1 and 6.

Also confiscated were bottles containing 11 spiders which their “handlers” pitted against each other while taking bets from inmates.

“The spiders are not prohibited per se. Like I said, I myself used to play with those when I was a boy,” Schwarzkopf said.

However, the spiders—which were most probably found by prisoners inside the NBP—were confiscated because they were “sources of gambling.”

The other prohibited items found were 15 cell phones, an electric stove, a powerbank, a transistor radio, a chest freezer, five television antennas, a video game gadget and a joystick, a water booster, a flat iron, and a Samsung tablet, among others.

On the other hand, inmates in Building 3 yielded two headsets, a game controller, an electric kettle, a LED television set, seven flash drives, two DVD players, two rice cookers, two exhaust fans and four decks of playing cards.

BuCor personnel also seized some cash being kept by the inmates: P3,790 from Lawrence Navarro and P32,730 from Ariz Diaz.  The inspection was the ninth to be conducted in the facility since last month.