Improvised weapons found during Mazaruni Prison raid

Several days after searches were conducted at the Camp Street, Lusignan and New Amsterdam Prisons for contraband items, the operations moved to the Mazaruni Prison on Monday during which a quantity of prohibited items were discovered.
The more than two-hour search unearthed 17 improvised weapons, two knives, two chisels, a screw driver, six USB cables, two cellular phones, 37 smoking utensils, 14 metal spoons, 18 cigarette lighters, two bottles of fermented wine, and other prohibited items.
On Saturday, members of the Joint Services swooped down at the New Amsterdam penitentiary during which 14 cellphones, five improvised weapons, 22 lighters, wires, 12 chargers, 11 earpieces, two SIM cards, and 12 grams of cannabis were discovered.
Two days prior, four small plastic packages containing a quantity of cannabis, 10 lighters, four improvised weapons, 30 razor blades, nine needles, a pair of scissors, a piece of broken glass, two metal nails, three geometry set compasses, one metal spoon, two cellphone batteries, six cellphones, five earphones, seven chargers, five SIM cards, two memory cards, and a quantity of wires were unearthed at the Lusignan, East Coast Demerara (ECD) penitentiary.
Meanwhile, over at the Georgetown prison, the members of the Joint Services unearthed 13 cellular phones, three cellular phone chargers, eight packs and 10 loose Bristol cigarettes, 21 cigarette lighters, 226 grams of suspected cannabis, small transparent ziplock bags, a quantity of improvised weapons, and three hacksaw blades.
Contraband smuggling has long been a perennial problem within the prison system, and this is compounded by the fact that both prison officers and Police Officers are facilitating the illegal trade, which is said to be “big business”.
While the authorities have been struggling to curb the illegal practice, there has been a breakthrough on the apparent network among rogue prison officers. In fact, only in October, four prison officers were arrested after they smuggled a bottle of rum and a pack of cigarettes into the Lusignan Prison the weekend prior. These officers were subsequently charged and interdicted from duty.
In addition, another two ranks found themselves in hot water following the discovery of illegal items at two separate prison facilities.
In Berbice, 1032 grams of suspected marijuana and 39 packs of cigarettes were found in the New Amsterdam Prison, and a prison officer admitted to conspiring with inmates to hide the contraband that was thrown over the fence.
Meanwhile, another prison officer at the Timehri penitentiary was taken into custody after he was implicated by an inmate concerning the presence of 584 grams of marijuana in the compound.
Five other prison officers were relieved of their duties back in July after they were implicated in an incident whereby a parcel containing cannabis had been thrown into the Lusignan Prison Holding Bay area.
Director of Prisons (ag) Gladwin Samuels had disclosed in September that so far for the year, some 28 prison officers have been dismissed; 11 for facilitating or directly smuggling contraband into the prison system.
The Prison Director added that there were 12 ranks currently interdicted from duty; nine of whom have been charged either departmentally or criminally for trafficking-related activities.