MANILA, Philippines — A former chief of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) disclosed Thursday that some police officers would release arrested Chinese drug lords in exchange for as much as P50 million.

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Former CIDG chief and now Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong revealed this as he testified during the resumption of the Senate justice and human rights committee’s probe into the alleged corruption inside the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

Magalong retold parts of the affidavit he executed in a congressional inquiry in 2015.

He told the Senate panel that during the course of his duty as CIDG chief, he conducted intelligence operations and a case build-up in response to illegal activities of some personnel of the CIDG, National Capital Region Police Office, and Police Regional Office 3.

According to Magalong, some personnel of the said units “were engaged in a scheme called ‘Agaw Bato.'”

“Part of their modus operandi is to arrest Chinese drug traffickers, and seize illegal drugs. They would later free them in exchange for money and arrest another Chinese national as replacement of the freed drug trafficker,” he said.

“Yung nahuli nilang Chinese ipapatubos ho nila yan, let us say mga P50 million…The latest that I investigated, it amounted to about P50 million para tubusin nung sindikato yung Chinese drug lord,” he further said.

“So kumita na po sila dun sa drugs, kumita pa sila dun sa nahuli nilang Chinese at palalabasin nila na…yung replacement, yun ang orginal na nahuli nila,” he added. /muf

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