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Police Seize Contraband Cell Phones During La Reform Prison Raid

More evidence of the worldwide nature of the contraband prison cell phone problem, this time from Costa Rica.

A police raid at Costa Rica’s La Reforma prison turns up large amounts of contraband, and reveals criminal networks operating within the jail.

Police on Thursday seized 580 homemade knives, large quantities of liquor, marijuana and crack, cellphones and other forbidden items during a raid at Costa Rica’s trouble-plagued La Reforma prison 20 km northwest of the capital San José.

In addition to the weapons, which police say inmates likely fabricated inside the prison, Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) agents and prison guards also confiscated 68 liters of liquor and 10 cellphones, said OIJ assistant Francisco Segura.

The maximum security La Reforma prison has frequently made the news since a violent May 11 prison escape attempt that resulted in the deaths of two inmates and a prison guard. During the three-hour standoff, inmates used handguns, fragmentation grenades and knives to take guards and other prisoners as hostages. Inmates also obtained a set of master keys to open cell doors in the prison’s maximum-security block.

Police also uncovered that some inmates had been operating a criminal extortion network from within the prison, using prohibited cellphones. The contraband seized during Thursday’s raid confirms Costa Rican prisons are plagued with corruption.

Source

Brian