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£100K of drugs seized from Perth Prison

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

The crackdown is part of a team-up between Police Scotland and the Scottish Prison Service.

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

And the next stage of the campaign will focus on the potential threat of drones being used to smuggle illicit substances into the jail.

Police chiefs will give details of their operation at HMP Perth during talks with councillors later this week.

In a report to the local authority’s community safety committee, Chief Superintendent Paul Anderson said: “With the last quarter (ending June 2016) Police Scotland have developed the relationship with HMP Perth and have recently appointed a new prison liaison officer who splits his time between HMP Perth and working with the Community Investigation Unit.

“This has led to a proactive work taking place within the prison and recovery of controlled drugs. Since his posting there has been significant drug recoveries, with the value of the recovering being nearly a six figure sum in total.”

He added that senior officers were involved in monthly meetings at the jail, sharing information about “emerging threats”.

“One such threat that has been identified is the potential use of drones around the prison estate and partnership working and learning has been shared between the two partners.”

The most recent available figures show there has been a fall in drug recoveries at HMP Perth in the last three years.

There were 136 finds in 2014, which fell slightly to 135 the following year.

In the first three months of this year, there were just 27 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 illegal drugs and paraphernalia.

A study of prisons in England and Wales revealed there were two incidents involving drones reported in 2014, but 33 in 2015. Items discovered during the infiltration attempts included drugs, phones and USB devices.

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.”

The number of detections for drug supply, production and cultivation across the Perth and Kinross area has dropped considerably from 31 between April and June 2015 to 18 in the same period, this year.

During the three month period, officers executed 19 search warrants leading to 15 people being reported to the procurator fiscal for alleged drug offences.