Improvised weapons, other contraband found in Guyana prisons
– hacksaw, bottles of ‘homemade’ wine, cellphones and accessories among find
Ranks of both the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) unearthed a large quantity of prohibited items, inclusive of improvised weapons, inside the walls of the five prisons in Guyana on Saturday.
Some of the cellular phones and other contraband items discovered by ranks of the GPF and GPS during their sweep of the prisons in Guyana
The searches were executed simultaneously at the Camp Street, Georgetown; Lusignan (East Coast Demerara); Timehri (East Bank Demerara); New Amsterdam (Berbice); and Mazaruni (Region Seven-Cuyuni Mazaruni) prisons.
During the extensive operation that lasted hours at each location, Prison Officers along with ranks of the GPF discovered, in total, 48 improvised weapons, scores of razor blades, four pairs of scissors, a hacksaw blade, 13 pieces of wires, five pieces of rope and constructions nails.
Some of the homemade wine, scissors and pieces of rope and wires unearthed by law enforcement officials during their search at the prisons on Saturday
There were 51 cigarette lighters, a quantity of cigarettes, 11 cellular phones, 12 cellular phone chargers, seven cellular phone batteries, nine SIM cards, 19 smoking utensils, a memory card, eight USB cables, a quantity of “triple A” batteries, 14 metal spoons, steel wool, sandpaper, and nail clips found.
Additionally, the GPS and GPF ranks seized a quantity of cannabis, a small quantity of ecstasy powder, five bottles and two five-gallon bottles of homemade wine from the lock-ups.
Several improvised weapons and cigarette lighters among other prohibited items found in the lock-ups
In the first quarter of this year, a joint operation by law enforcement agencies led to the discovery of a large quantity of contraband items among the various prisons.
These include cellular phones, phone chargers, cigarette lighters, a quantity of cannabis, cellphone batteries, a quantity of razor blades, metal spoons and forks, nails clips, construction nails, smoking utensils, improvised weapons, playing cards, sandpaper, broken mirrors, copper wires, scissors, tobacco leaves and earpieces.
The searches were conducted by in excess of 200 ranks inclusive of senior officers of the Guyana Police Force, Guyana Defence Force and the Guyana Prison Service.
According to the Police Force, there were no incidents during these exercises.
Contraband smuggling has long been a perennial problem within the prison system and this is compounded by the fact that both Prison and Police Officers are facilitating the illegal trade, which is said to be a “big business”.
