Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Around P300 million is missing from the cash seized during the December 2014 raid inside the Maximum Security Compound of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Tuesday.
The December 15, 2014 raid was the first of a series of raids conducted inside the national penitentiary. The first raid was led by then Justice Secretary and now Senator Leila De Lima.
Aguirre said they have a new witness who told him they have seized more than P300 million in cash.
“Sabi ng testigo (According to the witness), they were able to get more than P300 million but only declared less than P2 million,” Aguirre said.
The witnesses, Aguirre said, included an inmate and another government agent.
The first Bilibid raid resulted in the temporary transfer of 19 high-profile inmates to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) while Building 14 was being renovated. They were moved to Building 14 on July 2015.
Building 14 currently houses 53 high profile inmates, majority of whom are drug lords, including the 19 inmates that were transferred to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
During the 2014 raid, authorities discovered posh appliances, hot tubs, sex toys, mobile phones, other gadgets and firearms.
Seized cash is P1.4 million from drug lord Peter Co.
In Herbert “Ampang” Colanggo’s cell, three vaults were discovered where eight expensive watches were found—five Rolex watches, one Philip Stein and one Cartier.
The authorities also found expensive wallets and cash: one Prada with P5,000, Hermes with P10,000 and Louis Vuitton with P62,000.
Cash in foreign currencies were also found: US$600 and 23,000 Hong Kong dollars. RAM/rga
RELATED STORIES
Solons raise eyebrows over De Lima’s NBP raid sparing Sebastian
House to probe drugs in Bilibid under De Lima