Prisons officer arrested for ganja in cheese snack packs

A prisons officer with at least 20 years service was arrested yesterday as he showed up to work at Carrera Island prison.

He was found with cigarettes and marijuana packaged in juice boxes and cheese snack packs.

Prisons Commissioner Gerard Wilson yesterday said the officer was scheduled to start duties at 1 pm for his 24-hour shift. Based on a tip-off, the assistant superintendent of prisons stationed at Carrera conducted a “random” search and discovered the officer had two Zip Lock bags filled with loose cigarettes. There were also loose cigarettes in cheese puffs packs. He also had two packs of cigarettes, which prison sources said sells for $100 each, three cellphones (two of them appeared to be “brand new), hemp and a quantity of marijuana. The drugs were stashed inside one litre juice boxes.

Sources said the officer was being “looked at” for some time and there was an immediate search when he arrived at work. They said there has been a concerted effort recently to weed out trafficking prison officers from the service.

Prisons Commissioner Gerard Wilson yesterday said he and his officers have been working to rid the service of rogue officers. He added that a hotline 800-PRSN was established for members of the public to call about errant officers. The arrest of the officer, he said, was not as a result of the hotline but from intelligence gathering mechanisms.