2 October
An attempt from a member of the public to throw a bundle of drugs and recordable CDs into Wanganui Prison has fallen short of its goal. On a routine perimeter check made by the Prison drug dog and handler a bundle containing 16 grams of cannabis leaf, 2 caps of cannabis oil and 2 recordable CDs was found in the area between the two perimeter fences surrounding the Prison. The package has now been handed over to Police.
“The area where the package was found cannot be accessed by prisoners so the person who threw it in obviously missed their goal by quite a distance. The area is regularly checked so we believe it must have been dropped the night before. The bundle was packaged tightly and covered in plastic to try and stop the drug dog from sniffing it out. Our dogs have been trained to detect certain odours down to parts per trillion so it takes a bit more than plastic wrapping to stop us finding this type of package,” says Prison Manager Tony Howe.
“People will, and do try various methods of getting drugs into our prisons but the lesson is they will be caught. We know the demand for drugs in prison is high and that prisoners can and do put pressure on people to smuggle contraband in for them any way they can. During the last two weeks we have intercepted around 65 grams of cannabis and 20 caps of cannabis oil from coming into Wanganui and Manawatu Prison. This is a great result and I must thank our staff for their vigilance and team work in stopping this contraband from entering.”
“We have a number of initiatives in place to prevent drugs and other contraband entering the prison including visitor searches, vehicle checkpoints, and the use of drug detector dogs.”
“Nationally, random prisoner positive drug tests are sitting at an all time low and today’s find is one of the ways we are achieving this. Drug use in our prisons will not be tolerated.”
Notes to Editors
Nationally positive random drug tests are sitting at 10.5 percent and is the lowest since drug tests began in 1998. Please click here for more information. For further information contact the Communications Services Desk: