TACLOBAN CITY — Authorities at the Tacloban City Jail Male Dormitory have foiled another attempt to smuggle illegal drugs into the facility, marking the fourth such incident in the past two months.

Jail warden JCINSP Benedicto Ramirez said the contraband was being thrown over the jail's concrete perimeter fence from the Tacloban City Hall compound, usually at night or during holidays when smugglers believed fewer jail personnel were on duty.

The first two interception attempts were recorded on 12 June, a public holiday, and 30 June during the Tacloban City fiesta.

In the four incidents, authorities recovered a total of 41.4 grams of shabu and about 6 grams of marijuana. The seized drugs were turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency after laboratory examination.

Ramirez said the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology conducted surprise random drug tests on 20 percent of the facility's persons deprived of liberty, or 115 inmates, as well as all jail personnel a few days after the first incident. All tested negative for illegal drugs.

The BJMP has asked the Tacloban City Police Office to increase police visibility in the vacant lot between City Hall and the Department of Agriculture regional office, where the drugs are believed to have been thrown.

It has also requested the city government to install closed-circuit television cameras in the area to help identify individuals attempting to smuggle contraband into the jail.

According to Ramirez, the drugs were intended to land in the jail's vegetable garden, where they could have been retrieved by inmates assigned to maintain the area if they had gone unnoticed.

He said jail personnel inspect the garden every morning before inmates are allowed out of their cells, leading to the discovery of the contraband.

Authorities are now investigating to identify the intended recipients inside the facility. Ramirez said persons of interest have been identified based on conversations among inmates, but no direct evidence has yet been established.