28 October
The extraordinary drug detecting ability of Wanganui Prison’s drug dog, has been proven again today with a cannabis find. The drugs were detected by Roxy, the drug dog and her handler during a routine mail search. The cannabis was concealed in-between two glued pages of a magazine being posted to a prisoner.
“Our dogs have been trained to detect certain odours down to parts per trillion so it takes a bit more than sticking some pages together to conceal drugs,” says Assistant Regional Manager Christine O'Brien-Smith.
“All property posted or couriered into the Prison is routinely searched. Because the people sending drugs are aware of this, they can go to great lengths to conceal it. In some cases we cannot solely rely on staff to spot it because it is hidden very well, so we bring in the dogs.
“We have noticed that the public are trying new and inventive ways of trying to get drugs and other contraband into our prisons across the country. As soon as we identify one way, along comes another one. The battle to stop contraband coming in is ongoing for us but one thing is for sure, 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. All of these initiatives mean the chance you will get caught is so high it just isn’t worth it.
“We know there can be a lot of pressure on the public to bring contraband into prison but at the end of the day if you get caught you will face the full consequences of your actions. Not only that, you will be banned from visiting the prison for up to 12 months”
“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. The message is clear to both prisoners attempting to get drugs brought into them, and members of the public who try to bring them in. We will find them, we will give them to the Police, and you will get caught.”
Notes to Editors
Picture of drug find attached
Nationally positive random drug tests are sitting at 10.5 percent, the lowest since drug tests began in 1998. Please click here for more information.
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