Prisoner smuggled phone into jail ‘internally’
A SERVING prisoner was caught with cannabis and a mobile phone which had been smuggled into the prison in his bottom.
Jalees Ahmad, 22, was searched by prison officers at HMP Cardiff on April 6, 2019, with a metal detector, which raised the alarm.
He was taken to a reception area and a body orifice security scanner (BOSS) chair was used to conduct a further search, which gave a positive result.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court yesterday heard the defendant denied having any items in his possession and was told by a prison officer that he would be taken to a care and separation unit for a full body search.
Upon arriving at the unit, Ahmad handed over a miniature-sized Zanco mobile phone and was searched again with a portable detector, which indicated he still had something in his possession.
When asked again by an officer, he handed over a Kinder egg which was later found to contain 1.1g of cannabis and 0.5g of tobacco.
In his police interview, which was conducted almost a year later, Ahmad made full admissions, telling officers he had conveyed the items into prison “internally”.
He said the cannabis was for his own use but he had been forced to smuggle the phone in by another prisoner, whose name he would not divulge.
The defendant later pleaded guilty to two counts of conveying a listed article into prison.
Prosecutor Emma Harris told the court that Ahmad had been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment at Bristol Crown Court in April 2019 after being convicted of numerous robberies, theft and possession of a bladed article.
Defence barrister James McKenna highlighted the delay in the case coming to the court, which he described as being no fault of the defendant, and asked for any custodial sentence to be dealt with concurrently.
Sentencing, Recorder Dyfed Thomas said: “Taking a mobile phone or drugs into prison is a serious matter. It allows people to communicate when they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to, and it undermines the security of the prison and the welfare of prisoners.”
Ahmad, now of HMP Portland, Dorset, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, to run concurrently with his current sentence.