Iloilo jail hurdles surprise inspection, random drug test

NOT A sachet of illegal drugs or any contraband was found during the greyhound operations conducted on Iloilo District Jail facilities April 4, 2019.

Members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 6 (PDEA-6) Interdiction Team and K9 Unit, Pototan Police Station and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)-6 conducted the surprise search and seizure operation on the IDJ-female dorm in Pototan, Iloilo at around 7 a.m. Saturday.

Thirty inmates or persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) were randomly selected and subjected to drug test. 

Thirty minutes later, other members of the teams also conducted a parallel surprise search and seizure operation at the IDJ-Male Dorm.

The teams also randomly picked 348 PDLs to undergo drug test.

After the inspection and tests, PDEA-6 said no drugs were detected nor seized.

Alex Tablate, PDEA-6 regional director, said the inmates were also cleared in the random drug testing.

Two days before that, personnel from the PDEA Interdiction Team and K9 Unit, BJMP-Region VI and the Dumangas Police Station also conducted surprise search and seizure operations at the BJMP jail facility in Dumangas, Iloilo.

Twenty-six inmates were made to undergo a surprise drug test but all of them tested negative.

On May 1, the same PDEA team, PDEA Antique Provincial Office, together with the BJMP-6 personnel and Culasi policemen, conducted search and seizure operations and random drug testing at Culasi District Jail-Male Dorm in Poblacion, Culasi, Antique. 

All eleven inmates tested negative for illegal drugs use.

On the same date, a similar operation was also conducted on San Jose District Jail Male and Female Dormitory at Barangay 8, San Jose, Antique. 

They picked 31 prisoners to undergo drug testing, and again, they all passed.