Roger! Smuggled VHF radio let Bilibid boys ‘monitor’ raids

SOME resourceful inmates and their guards at New Bilibid Prison (NBP) were on the same wavelength all along.

The latest stash of contraband confiscated at the national penitentiary on Wednesday included a hand-held VHF (very high frequency) radio that enabled inmates to “eavesdrop” on the conversations among NBP personnel, an official said.

The device was set in the NBP’s own radio frequency when found, allowing its user to “monitor us,” especially during surprise inspections, said  NBP Superintendent Richard Schwarzkopf.

“We found the device inside a  ‘kubol’ of an inmate,” Schwarzkopf told the Inquirer. “They can monitor my questions, like where is the next target [of the inspection]. They can hear if we are in Quadrant 3 or 4.”

The VHF radio was found in a kubol or one of the quarters inside the maximum security compound’s Building 6, which is occupied by members of the Batang City Jail prison gang.

Having the radio may have enabled the inmates to hide small-sized contraband, “but of course they can’t quickly move and hide the big items,” the NBP official said in an interview.

But Schwarzkopf explained that whatever the inmates picked up on their radio was “actually not confidential.” Even without it, he said, inmates could already hear or see the inspectors searching a building anyway.

Wednesday’s predawn raid— the 12th since November—also yielded a  .45-cal. pistol, 29 bladed weapons, a laptop, two Internet modems, three game consoles, three auto voltage regulators, 16 cell phones, 21 DVD players and seven color TV sets.

Also seized were 15 LPG tanks, five electric kettles, five rice cookers, five signal boosters and 15 remote control pads for various appliances.

Asked why no prison guard or official had been exposed and investigated for playing blind to the smuggling, Schwarzkopf said an investigation was still ongoing, with the results coming out possibly within the month.