Almost £100,000 worth of drugs seized at Perth Prison

Nearly £100,000 worth of drugs have been seized during a blitz on contraband at Perth Prison.

The drug recoveries have been made since the appointment of a new prison liaison officer earlier this year.

The next stage of the authorities’ campaign will focus on the threat of drones being used to smuggle illicit substances into the jail.

In a report to Perth and Kinross Council’s community safety committee, Chief Superintendent Paul Anderson said the liaison officer splits his time between HMP Perth and working with the community investigation unit.

“Since his posting there has been significant drug recoveries, with the value of the recovering being nearly a sixfigure sum in total,” he said.

He added that senior officers were involved in monthly meetings at the jail, sharing information about “emerging threats”, including the potential use of drones around the prison estate.

A Scottish Prison Service spokeswoman said: “We are aware of the potential for drones/quad-copters to be used illegally and various methods are deployed to prevent contraband from entering our establishments.

“Anyone found attempting to smuggle contraband into our prisons will be reported to the police.”

In the first three months of this year, there were 27 drug finds, including more than 100 miscellaneous tablets and 14 grams of class A heroin.

In recent years, the prison service introduced sniffer dogs at Perth’s visitor zone.

Bosses also invested in new technology and trained staff to detect drugs and paraphernalia.