Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 13, 2018 News
There’s a saying that the more you look is the less you see.
That seems to be the case at the nation’s penitentiaries, where officials and inmates wage a daily battle of wits; with one side seeking to smuggle in contraband items at all costs, the other, trying to keep them out.
Over the past few months, more and more persons are finding creative ways to smuggle contrabands past the watchful eyes of law enforcement officers stationed throughout the various prisons.
These are mainly the Georgetown, Mazaruni, New Amsterdam and Timehri penitentiary.
The inmates have help on the outside. Some persons are tossing parcels over the prison fence, others are even placing parcels in areas where the prisoners can reach them.
In one instance, a prisoner was able to disarm another prisoner who had a knife and a cutlass. How the items entered the prison is anyone’s guess.
One man even tried to smuggle marijuana and four packets of cigarette in footwear.
In most cases, these civilians who attempt to smuggle contraband into the prison are caught and prosecuted.
In a most recent case, a man arrived at the Lusignan Prison check point to deliver clothing and a pair of footwear for a prisoner to attend court.
The process would see the person delivering the items being documented by use of some form of identification, for example National Identification Card.
According to information, when the items were placed on a table for the booking to take place, the footwear was observed to be looking “funny.” The civilian on recognising that something was wrong took off running with his ID card.
The items were then searched, and four packets of cigarettes and a quantity of marijuana were found inside the footwear.
Just a few days after that, prison officials at New Amsterdam Prison discovered two parcels containing marijuana, 18 packets of cigarettes, a quantity of plastic bags and a bottle of Eldorado Rum next to a chicken pen near the prison.
Also recently, an unknown individual was seen by police and prison officers on duty at the north eastern section of the holding area at the Lusignan Prison.
The person attempted to throw a parcel over the fence.
It was reported that ranks shot at the individual who dropped the parcel and fled.
Ranks recovered a camouflage hat and a pair of camouflage short pants from the area. They also found a parcel containing 1002 grams of marijuana, a large quantity of tobacco leaves, four cell phones without SIM cards, one charger, one earpiece and 33 packets of Bristol cigarettes.
Soon after that on June 11, last, ranks manning the eastern towers of the Lusignan prison, heard “crashing sounds” emanating from the bushes and shortly after they observed a male clad in a hoodie.
The ranks then fired a “warning shot” into the thick vegetation . They recovered a bag containing 140 packets of cigarettes, four cellular phones, 11 lighters, one power pack, one earpiece, a phone charger, 15 packets of small size zip lock bags and 1794 grams of cannabis.
Police was also recently called in to investigate the discovery of a knife and cutlass that was seen outside the north eastern fence of the holding bay at the Lusignan Prison.
According to reports, they were seen in possession of a prisoner who was disarmed by another prisoner. The items were then thrown out of the holding bay and the matter was reported to prison authorities.
A few months prior to these discoveries, a probe was launched at the New Amsterdam Prison, after pictures of several high profile criminals surfaced on Facebook.
Most of these inmates were on remand for murder. In the photos, the prisoners were seen flaunting expensive alcohol and were seen smoking what is suspected to be marijuana.
It was reported that the contrabands were transported on a garbage collection tractor contracted by the prison.
With the numerous attempts to smuggle contrabands into the prison, ranks at the Lusignan Prison recently conducted a three hour search at the venue where they found three cell phones, two cell phones batteries, a pocket knife, four pair scissors, two hack saw blades, 13 improvised weapons and two mirrors.
They also found 24 lighters, 27 phone chargers, four ear pieces, 2 pack needles, four phone casing, four zip lock bag with marijuana, one memory card, three SIM card, cigarettes and a quantity of wires and razor blades.
Subsequently, a search was conducted at the New Amsterdam Prison where ranks discovered six cell phones, 292 grams of marijuana, 12 phone chargers, five cigarettes, eight improvised weapons/ joker and three SIM cards.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 20, 2024
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