RANKS of the Joint Services, on Saturday, searched the New Amsterdam and Mazaruni Prisons as well as the Holding Bays of the Lusignan Prison and found a range of prohibited items.

Among the items were 23 cellular phones; 16 phone chargers; 7 ear pieces; 6 smoking utensils;

3 SIM cards; one memory card; 27 metal spoons; two metal plates; 48 lighters; a quantity of razor blades and construction nails; six batteries; a quantity of small-sized ziplock bags; six grams of cannabis; one pack bamboo; two pairs of scissors; one glass bottle; four bottles of locally-made wine; a quantity of wires; one speaker; one whistle; one screwdriver; three mirrors; three nail clips; one tweezer; one grater; one bottle nail polish; 10 empty tins and 28 improvised weapons .

The searches were conducted between 05:00-10:40hrs and involved a total of 138 ranks inclusive of 6 Officers.

Saturday’s raids come one day after two high-profile prisoners were among a group of inmates at the Camp Street Prison who were a part of a foiled prison escape uncovered on Friday. Prison warders discovered several bars of a cell had been cut and secured with cloth.

Gladwin Samuels, Director of Prisons (ag), said the warders made the discovery while interacting with prisoners in the security block of the Georgetown Prison. He explained that the heads of Joint Services were alerted and the immediate search operation revealed that bars of another cell had also been cut.

The director noted that hacksaw blades were discovered during the search that are said to be the items used to cut the bars. The prison head said the police, with the assistance of prison officers from the Georgetown Prison, will be conducting a full investigation into the matter to determine, among other matters, how the prisoners got possession of hacksaw blades and why the sawed bars were not discovered earlier. The high-profile prisoners were identified as Stafrei Hopkinson Alexander, called “Mad Dawg”, an escapee from the July, 9, 2017 prison break and Ryan Jones, who is serving 28 years for manslaughter. The prison director noted that the duo are reported to be the main players in the escape plan and systems are in place for these persons to be secured at another location.