Policeman nab attempting to throw contrabands into Lusignan Prison

A rank of the Guyana Police Force has been caught attempting to throw a bag containing contraband items into the Holding Bay of the Lusignan Prison.
According to Director of Prisons (ag), Gladwin Samuels, the incident occurred at about 04:18h on Friday, after the Police rank, who is stationed at the East Coast Demerara penitentiary, was scheduled to start work at 06:00h but showed up at the Prison two hours before his shift was due to begin. He was observed going to the fence of the Holding Area, where he attempted to get a black plastic bag over the fence.
“He was observed [by other Police and prison officers], and the ranks raised an alarm and promptly arrested him. The bag, however, got caught on the fence and was retrieved by the ranks on duty,” Samuels detailed.
The plastic bag, when examined, was found to contain one cellular phone, one cellular phone charger, and seven packs of cigarettes.
The cop was detained before subsequently being handed over to an Inspector of Police who came on duty. He was then escorted to a Police Station for further

investigation.
This incident comes on the heels of heightened measures being employed by authorities to curb the perennial problem of contraband being smuggled into the prisons. In fact, these efforts have resulted in several prison officers being caught facilitating the illegal trade, which is said to be a “big business”.
The Director of Prisons had disclosed during a press conference several weeks ago that several prison officers had been relieved of their duties after they were found to be working in collusion with each other in order to facilitate the movement of suspected contraband into the Lusignan Prison Holding Bay area.
Prisons Director Samuels had decried the behaviour of such ranks. “It is quite disturbing, it is quite embarrassing, to have to face these situations on a daily basis. But this is not a situation whereby the prison administration is failing to act; the reality of it is, despite we would do vetting and so forth, these prison officers

are drawn from communities…and for some strange reason, despite they’re given their dos and don’ts, they allow themselves to be sucked into the financial gains that these activities can bring you,” the Prison Director had lamented.
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan had also expressed disgust at the continuous attempts to smuggle contraband into the prisons, and the discovery of various illicit items at several prison facilities across the country. He had said that steps are being taken to curb this practice.
Further, he had gone on to surmise that the lack of proper management at Guyana’s penal facilities was probably contributing to the increasing instances of smuggling attempts and the discovery of dozens of contraband items within the prison system.