Warden reveals tricks of the drug trade behind bars

The talk was part of a project launched by the Justice Ministry yesterday

at Bangkok's Miracle Hotel to prevent drug trafficking and other crimes.

The scheme is aimed at helping corrections officials obtain narcotics information from inmates so related agencies can act on the data to arrest drug dealers.

Wanchai Roujanavong said department officials target inmates convicted of drug offences, and if they cooperate, they are given "good-behaviour" status, which offers them the chance of a royal pardon or a reduced jail term.

The policy has led to some 1,000 items of information being obtained in two years but much of it was of no practical use and only 215 items could be acted on, he said.

Wanchai said his department provided useful information that had led to the arrest of major drug dealers.

He said a complicated system was in place to ensure no one knew who gave information in order to protect the identity of informants for fear of revenge attacks.

In regard to drug trafficking networks among inmates, he admitted it was hard to stop as nearly 80,000 prisoners were serving time for drug offences.

Some continued their operations despite being incarcerated, by ordering drugs through their lawyers, who are legally entitled to see them in private, he said.

Despite random searches of prison cells, the drug trade continued and inmates employed a number of tricks to smuggle in drugs and mobile phones, he said.

Officials often found SIM cards and drugs in toilets, underneath tiles and in some cases hidden in inmates' bodies, where inmates did not think officials would search, he said.

Wanchai revealed that the department was studying new techno-logy to scramble telephone signals in and around prisons.

He said that, while waiting to get the new equipment, prison staff would continue to use telephone signal-tapping devices.

The Nation