SAF troopers find P500K ‘shabu’ in Bilibid guard’s underwear

A jail guard assigned at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) was arrested on Thursday after a routine search yielded a bag of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) hidden in his underwear.

Prison Guard 1 Ernesto Dionglay of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), however, claimed he did not know how the 100 grams of shabu ended up where they were found.

He also refused to identify his supplier although he later admitted that he needed the money for his pregnant wife.

Muntinlupa police chief, Senior, Supt. Dante Novicio, quoting Special Action Force (SAF) troopers who found the drugs in Dionglay’s possession, said the BuCor guard was entering the employees’ gate at the NBP’s maximum security compound to start his 8 a.m. shift when he was stopped for a routine inspection.

The 34-year-old prison guard, however, resisted and tried to run away to an area without any closed-circuit television cameras.

Novicio said it was very likely Dionglay was going to pass on the drugs to prisoners who would sell it for him.

Senior Insp. Elvin John Tio, head of the Muntinlupa police station’s Drug Enforcement Unit, said the seized shabu has an estimated street value of around P500,000. The price, however, goes up by 50 to 100 percent inside the state prison.

Tio claimed that Dionglay, a BuCor employee for the past 10 years, was part of a “syndicate delivering drugs” to the NBP.