A Prison Officer I, with nine years’ service, has been charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and possession of prohibited goods.
He was expected to appear virtually yesterday before an Arima magistrate.
A release from the Police Service said Steffon Deocharan, 31, of Race Course Road, Carapo, Arima, was charged with the offences by PC Coombs of the Arouca Police Station.
The arrest followed a routine search exercise carried out at the
security check point by prison officers.
The release said Deocharan was reported to be on duty at the Maximum Security Prison at Arouca last Friday and at 7.15 pm he left the compound to collect food.
Police claimed he returned at 7.20 pm with a container of food and a 1.5 litre bottle of water.
As he entered the compound he was searched and the items were scanned, when foreign objects were reportedly observed in the food container.
An additional search was conducted on the food container and four packages of frozen marijuana were allegedly discovered.
The bottle was also found to contain alcohol, the drugs when weighed had a combined weight of 1170 grammes.
Investigations were conducted by WPC Morgan and PC Sutherland.
