12 August
It was a busy morning for the drug dog team at Manawatu Prison on Sunday as 36 cars and 90 visitors were given the once-over on arrival. Four cars caught their particular attention with drugs and drug paraphernalia found in two of them.
“Our drug dog showed a lot of interest in one car driven by a woman with two small children in the back,” says Prison Manager Peter Howe.
“During a detailed search of her vehicle 28 point bags were found concealed near the gear stick along with a broken ‘P’ pipe in the door compartment. She also had two more pipes, other small pieces of drug equipment and several empty point bags hidden in her handbag.
“While the bags weren’t full, the trace of drugs was still enough for our highly skilled staff to detect. It shows we tolerate no amount of drugs or contraband getting into the prison.”
Mr Howe says any attempt to get contraband into prison is seen as a threat to the safety and security of the site. It will not be accepted and those caught trying will be penalised.
The woman was able to contact a family member to come and collect the kids before the Police arrested her and removed her from the site.
“Unfortunately, there are people in the community who are willing to help prisoners access drugs by trying various devious methods to get them into corrections facilities.
“A male visitor was also refused his visit and banned from the site when his car was the second one to be singled out by the drug dog team. A small amount of cannabis head and leaf was found in the back when the vehicle was searched.”
Three other visitors received cautions during the checkpoint for having unopened bottles of alcohol in their cars.
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