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The entrance to the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca. - File photoA prisons officer has been arrested after being found with a quantity of contraband items including marijuana inside the Maximum Security Prison (MSP) at Golden Grove in Arouca.
According to a report, the officer who has four years of service and is assigned to MSP, was searched at around 8 am on November 12 inside the prison by police officers from the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), upon the officer reporting for duty.
During the search, several packets containing plant-like material, a sum of cash and a quantity of cigarettes and were found on his person. The officer was escorted to his vehicle where, during a search, officers found similar items in the vehicle.
He was told that a search of his home would be conducted as part of investigations. He was arrested and taken to the Besson Street Police Station where he is expected to be charged.
A release said that Acting Prisons Commissioner Hayden Forde was told about the arrest and he said that the crackdown on traffickers will always be a major priority for the prisons administration which he leads.
Forde reiterated that he had issued stern warnings to his officers that acts of trafficking would not be tolerated.
"Any officer caught trafficking during my time as acting commissioner will be transported to the division they were delivering contraband to, and will spend time with their criminal friends. Judgement Day will come if you feel trafficking is the way to go," Forde said.
He added that he was encouraged by the "overwhelming" amount of information received via the Prison Service Hotline 800-PRSN (7776) and urged people with any information about criminal actions, relative to the prison, to continue to utilise the platform.
He also commended hard-working, honest prison officers who continue to uphold the image and represent the Prison Service in the best ways possible.
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