Lighters, scissors among prohibited items found at Mazaruni Prison

A joint services search carried out on Saturday at the Mazaruni Prison, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), has unearthed a number of prohibited items including pepper sauce and mirrors.
The search was conducted between 07:00h and 10:45h by ranks of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Prisons Service.
Among the illicit items found were: 11 bottles of pepper sauce, 13 lighters, five cellular phones, two cell phone batteries, 40 razor blades, three pairs of scissors, 17 improvised weapons, seven pieces of sandpaper, 15 nails, 10 mirrors, 15 metal spoons, seven packs of playing cards and 17 smoking utensils.
Back in April, a similar exercise was conducted at the Region Seven penitentiary during which a large number of prohibited items were also found.
These included: 23 nails, 22 bottles of pepper sauce, six razor blades, eight lighters, two metal spoons, 14 improvised weapons, four pieces of wire, four bottles of homemade wine, one nail clip, one transformer, one knife, four pieces of rope, one sim card, one USB, one tweezer, one glass, 13 improvised smoking utensils, one earpiece, one metal fork, 24 disposable blades and one carved out bible used to hide a cellphone.
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”.
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, last year several prison officers were charged and interdicted from duty.