125 KNIVES IN JAIL ‘FACTORY’
Prison dubbed Stab City
LAGS have used a jail workshop to make a lethal armoury of knives.
The “weapons factory” at the prison – nicknamed Stab City by inmates and officers – was shut down after over 125 blades were made in the engineering unit.
Shocking pictures show 12in-long knives with steel wire grips made “under the noses of the prison guards”.
A former inmate claimed the number of weapons could be as high as 400. He said lags used an on-site DHL packing centre to courier them to other jails.
DHL and the Ministry of Justice said there was “no evidence” that weapons left the prison – HMP Swaleside in Kent.
But a former officer today claims it was common for drugs to be hidden in cereal boxes and sent to other jails using DHL.
The source said: “It was unreal – there were massive blades being made under the noses of the prison guards. People in Swaleside were using a smuggled mobile phone to take orders for weapons, then someone in the packing centre was hiding them in boxes and sending them out.”
Prison chiefs launched a probe last month after receiving intelligence about the sophisticated operation. The discovery sparked an overhaul of security, including the introduction of scanners.
A Prison Service spokesman said: “A number of makeshift weapons were discovered during a search at HMP Swaleside, with violence falling considerably since. The prison has taken action to make sure there is no repeat.”
A DHL spokesman added: “As the MOJ has confirmed, there is no evidence to suggest that any weapons have been shipped out of the prison.”