Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II yesterday said yesterday a new witness has told him that it was not only P1.6 million in cash but more than P300 million was seized during the raid of the National Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City on Dec. 15, 2014.
“Ostensibly on paper, they said they only confiscated firearms and other contraband items and R1.6 million pero (but) in reality sabi (said) ng witness, they were able to get more than P300 million in cash from that particular raid,” Aguirre told journalists in an interview.
Aguirre, however, did not name the witness. Neither did he say if the new witness will be presented in the inquiry being done by the House of Representatives’ committee on justice on the illegal drugs trade in the NBP during the term of Sen. Leila de Lima as then secretary of justice.
The 2014 raid of the NBP was led by De Lima. It led to the seizure of banned items inside the detention cells of high-profile inmates at the maximum security compound such as firearms, cellular phones, signal boosters, and cash totaling P1.6 million.
After the raid, 19 high-profile inmates were ordered transferred to the detention facility of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Manila.
Earlier, Aguirre had said that the proceeds from the illegal drugs trade in the NBP could be hundreds of millions of pesos or even billions as he pointed out that 75 per cent of drug transactions in the country emanated from the NBP.
(REY PANALIGAN)