TRICKS USED TO SMUGGLE DRUGS

A GIFT of Germaine Greer's book The Female Eunuch for a prison inmate
looked innocuous enough - until prison officers discovered a syringe hidden
in it.

The book had been hollowed out to hold the syringe - a common trick used by
visitors to get drugs into jails.

Last weekend, a woman was caught attempting to smuggle less than a gram of
rock heroin and a number of Valium tablets to her boyfriend.

She had hidden them in her knickers, along with five hypodermic needles and
a syringe.

Another woman was caught trying to bring in hashish in her purse. Others
have hidden drugs in film containers, tennis ball containers, aerosol cans
and even in children's plaits.

But a crackdown on drug smuggling in NSW prisons has led to a 50 per cent
rise in seizures in the last two years, new figures show.

In July alone there were 65 busts, involving 20 visitors, 27 inmates and 18
periodic detainees.

Included in the haul were 58 syringes - items that could become deadly
weapons against prison officers.

Corrective Services Minister Bob Debus said yesterday prisoners were
continuing to put their loved ones at risk by getting them to smuggle in
drugs.

Laws introduced in 1996 could lead to mandatory life imprisonment for
either visitors or inmates trafficking in large quantities, he said.

""If you try to smuggle drugs or implements into prison, you will be
apprehended and handed to the police to face criminal charges," Mr Debus said.

""There are no exceptions."

He released figures yesterday showing his department was on track to make
more than 800 busts this year as a result of raids by police and prison staff.

There were 503 drug seizures in 1996 as a result of raids by police and
Corrective Services personnel. In 1997 this grew to 716 seizures.

More than $3.7 million will be spent this financial year on the war against
drugs in jails.

Mr Debus said the State Government had no tolerance for drugs either in
society or in the prisons.

""It is vital to prison security and inmates' safety that we stomp on drug
trafficking," he said.

Mr Debus said more than 70 per cent of inmates had been convicted of
drug-related crime.

This led to them developing ""cunning and often unpleasant means" of
getting drugs, including compromising parents, wives, girlfriends and even
children to act as couriers.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski