23 July
A team effort at Waikeria Prison lead to a significant drug find on 22 July. Around 31 grams of high quality compressed cannabis was found concealed in clothing in a unit laundry.
Officer Ted, the prison drug dog located the package after staff received intelligence that drugs might be being concealed in the unit.
“The find was a fantastic example of the prison team working together, we gained the intelligence and staff worked together to narrow down our search area, we then put the drug dog handler, Maurice O’Connor and the drug dog on the case,” says Waikeria North Prison Manager Paul O’Byrne.
“Drug use in our prisons will not be tolerated and I am extremely proud of my staff who work hard to achieve this. We routinely conduct cell searches, undertake random drug testing on prisoners and also act on intelligence, like in this case to find contraband in the Prison.
“We also have a number of initiatives in place to prevent drugs and other contraband from entering the prison including visitor searches, vehicle checkpoints, and the use of drug detector dogs.
The evidence will be handed over to Police for disposal.
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