Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre staff amped-up their search efforts to reduce contraband entering the prison with a two-week blitz targeting fence ‘throwovers’ and intercepted more than a dozen black parcels containing drugs, phones and other contraband items.
Under the direction of Governor Adam Wilkinson, officers increased intelligence surveillance, information gathering, CCTV observation, searches, sharing information with NSW Police and changing-up inmate routines to avoid complacency.
The parcels contained contraband, including seven mobile phones, five phone chargers, 242 Buprenorphine strips, 62.3g of methamphetamine, 226g of cannabis, 1.75kg of tobacco, two vapes, 13 cigarette lighters, 280 tobacco filters and hundreds of cigarette filters and papers.
Minister for Corrections, Anoulack Chanthivong, said officers at Silverwater did an excellent job as the first line of defence in stopping contraband entering the prison system.
“This is the gateway to our prison network so intercepting contraband stops it circulating among inmates across the State,” he said.
MRRC Acting Manager of Security, Wayne Bywater, said the contraband bust was one of the biggest he’d seen in his 21-year career with CSNSW.
“I’ve been in corrections a long time and am used to seeing smaller finds of contraband, so this was extraordinary and all thanks to the hard work of staff,” Mr Bywater said.
