Drug trade from behind bars booms

Drug trade from behind bars booms
Published: 14/05/2012 at 01:46 AM


More than half of 50 million speed pills seized since September have been linked to prisoners, a seminar was told yesterday.

Office of Narcotics Board adviser Narong Rattananukul said drug trafficking activities carried out from behind bars were more widespread than ever before.

"Prisons are the hub

[of the crime] where traffickers meet each other and drug users. They also meet other criminals and use connections to intimidate witnesses or prison guards," he said.



He was speaking at the discussion "Expose Prison Mafias and Drug Trade" organised jointly by the Thai Journalists Association and the Isara Institute.

The ONCB's statistics during January to April this year show the drugs trade at 37 prisons searched by authorities was rife.

A total of 3,353 smuggled mobile phones were used to maintain contact with drug networks on the outside and about 1.038 billion baht of drug money was seized.

More than half of the 50 million pills seized since September last year had been trafficked with instructions from prisoners behind bars, he said.

"In the past when a trafficker was put behind bars, the case was closed. But if a trafficker is thrown into jail these days, a new case emerges," he said.

Corrections Department director-general Suchart Wongananchai admitted authorities are in league with drug traffickers but said there were other factors in the trade. He said technological advancement is also at play. Smaller mobile phones make it easier for inmates to smuggle them in.

A recent search at Bang Kwang prison has found that five inmates hid mobile phones, each the size of a remote-control car key device, in their rectums.

Pol Col Suchart also blamed bureaucratic red tape for failed attempts to curb drug trafficking inside prisons.

He said the installation of mobile phone jammers to block prisoners from using mobile phones was proposed three years ago. The device is now up and running at Khao Bin prison in Ratchaburi, the only facility equipped with the jammer.

Pol Col Suchart said that out of 143 prisons, only seven are declared free of behind-bars drug involvement.

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