MANILA: Three National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) personnel were sacked for being involved in smuggling mobile phones for what are known as the Bilibid 19, a group of high-profile inmates detained on drug charges.
NBI Director Virgilio Mendez said that if the NBI personnel were found to be truly involved, they will be held responsible according to due process.
Dir. Mendez explained that visitors would have to go through three checkpoints before reaching the Bilibid 19 in the NBI Detention Center, the first two of which are handled by NBI and the last by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).
Following the discovery of the smuggling attempts, security was tightened in the NBI detention center where the 19 inmates are temporarily detained after the crackdown on the illegal drug operations in the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP).
NBP Superintendent Richard Schwarzkopf Jr. admitted that visitors have devised many ingenious ways to smuggle contraband items inside the NBP and some of these do get through because the checks conducted are manual rather than scientific, which is to say with hi-tech equipment such as scanners and x-rays. Supt. Schwarzkopf said that the NBP is in the process of procuring such equipment which will make their security checks more efficient and effective. Meanwhile, he said, his men are doing the best they can.
