BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – A drug suspect arrested on Feb. 10 was a bodegero or warehouseman receiving orders from an inmate at the Metro Bacolod District Jail (MBDJ), according to Bacolod City Police Office’s (BCPO) Police Station 8 commander Police Major Joery Puerto.
The drug suspect was 39-year-old Mark Daniel Angas and his supposed contact at the MBDJ was a certain “Joker Igca”.
Angas was caught with shabu valued close to P1.4 million.
Puerto said they discovered the transactions with Igca while reviewing the contents of Angas’ mobile phone.
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Western Visayas has gotten in touch with the BCPO after learning about the transactions.
According to Puerto, during interrogation Angas also gave names allegedly involved in drug trafficking. The BCPO has started validating the information.
On Feb. 1, the Police Drug Enforcement Group – Special Operations Unit 6 conducted a buy-bust operation in Barangay Mandalagan. Arrested suspect Jessie Masgong also mentioned during a police interrogation that he was receiving orders from an inmate at the MBDJ.
According to Puerto, the name given by Masgong was different from the name given by Angas.
In a radio interview over the weekend, Atty. Jairus Anthony Dogelio, spokesperson for the BJMP in Western Visayas, said it was possible that the information on the suspects may be real.
“Indi naton ma-discount kun tuod nga may contact sila sa sulod,” Dogelio said.
It was also possible, he added, that the arrested drug suspects may only be pointing to MBDJ inmates as their contact person to avoid getting chased down by their own cohorts outside, as well as to lure investigators away from their true contacts.
“Pinaka-easy nila nga escape ara sa jail ang ginatudlo nila, not necessarily nga intsakto ina,” he said,
Nevertheless, to intercept and/or prevent the entry of contrabands inside the MBDJ, Dogelio said they have random and regular “greyhound” operations or shakedowns and have in fact recovered mobile phones from the inmates.
Dogelio said they are now recommending the installation of signal jamming devices in the surrounding areas of the MBDJ, although they are concerned that these may affect their offices, as well as communications inside the BCPO camp.
He is also urging the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod City to pass an ordinance which would penalize the smuggling of contrabands into the MBDJ./PN
