CRACKDOWN ON VISITORS TO CASUARINA UNCOVERS DRUGS, AMMUNITION

AN ALARMING haul of drugs and ammunition was uncovered during a security
crackdown against visitors to Casuarina Prison.

Amphetamines, cannabis, serapax, syringes, drug-smoking implements and a
set of drug scales were seized during the January 5-12 operation. The
ammunition was found in the vehicle of a visitor.There were 848 visitors to
Casuarina during the crackdown. Sniffer dogs allegedly identified dozens of
potential drug smugglers, 61 of whom were strip-searched.

A number of visitors are facing charges, including serious drug possession
counts, after the joint Kwinana police and Justice Ministry operation.

A ministry spokesman said many visits were cancelled once word of the
crackdown spread. Casuarina houses the State's maximum-security male
prisoners. Its modified operational capacity is 493 but it had 584
prisoners on January 11.

Acting general manager of prison services Tony Leech claimed a big win
yesterday.

Mr Leech said intelligence from within the jail confirmed that the supply
of illegal contraband had been interrupted successfully. "The decision to
maintain the pressure over an extended period has definitely paid off," he
said. Similar crackdowns would be mounted at the State's other 13 adult
prisons.

Mr Leech said people trying to smuggle drugs and other illegal items into
prisons should think twice. "People suspected of carrying contraband will
be strip-searched, they will have their vehicles searched and if they are
found to be carrying anything illegal, they will be charged," he said.

The spokesman said it was a concern that drugs were getting into the
prisons but authorities were not losing the battle against illicit drugs.
"It is not a question of fighting a losing battle," he said. "It is a
matter of keeping the pressure up.

"Drugs are a problem in the community and they are a problem in prisons.
People go to extraordinary lengths to smuggle drugs in - but the message to
them is now clear."

Prisoners"Advisory Support Service spokeswoman Dot Goulding said the prison
drug problem reflected the community's situation.

Ms Goulding said the authorities had targeted visitors but they had not
acknowledged that the problem was much wider.

"Drugs are getting in in other ways and it appears to be organised," she
said. "They target visitors because they can - if staff are strip-searched
the union is up in arms."

Ms Goulding claimed visitors had little opportunity to pass on illicit
substances compared with people who had regular access to the prison.
"There are very strong forms of surveillance and, of course, the sniffer
dogs," she said.