MAJOR PRISON BUST

CCNTV6

As police continue to investigate the latest threats made against the lives of prisons officers- another search on Sunday at the country's Maximum Security Prison- yielded a major haul of contraband including cell phones- which are allegedly being  used by some inmates to call hits from within the prison walls.  Mark Bassant has the latest.

Transcript

00:00With the police investigating the heightened threat against prison

00:04officers after warning was sent out late last week, as part of their way of

00:08mitigating these attacks, a sweeping search of the Maximum Securities Prison

00:13building one was conducted yesterday yielding contraband that threatened the

00:18safety of prisons officers on duty. Prison sources told TV6 News that the

00:23operation involving close to 300 officers was conducted for about four

00:28hours beginning shortly after 10 a.m. and ending close to 2 p.m. During the

00:33search of several cells in that building that houses both remand and

00:37convicted prisoners, prison officers with the support of two specialized prison

00:41units and the police's Guard and Emergency Branch seized 39 cell phones.

00:47Also during the exercise, several cell phone chargers, SIM cards, cigarette packs

00:53and roll-on cigarettes containing marijuana were also seized. An alarming

00:58number of improvised weapons were also found during the search which in some

01:02cases are used to harm other prisoners or even prison officers. Other

01:07unauthorized medicinal drugs that were not sanctioned by prison authorities

01:11were also seized during the operation, sources say. General Secretary of the

01:16Prisons Officers Association Lester Logie in a brief comment said they were

01:20ramping up searches within the prisons following the threats the lives of

01:24prisons officers. Senior prison sources told TV6 News that the threat to the

01:29lives of prison officers were prompted following an interview with an inmate at

01:33a detention center what revealed that someone was intent on wiping out certain

01:38gang members across the country. Sources also indicated that the ongoing searches

01:42are tied to locating a cell phone allegedly used by a gang member in the

01:47MSP's building 13 in which alleged hits were recently ordered on prison officers

01:52and other persons. Mark Besant, TV6 News

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