A parcel of prohibited items thrown over the perimeter wall of the Magazine Prison in Colombo has been recovered, police said on Thursday.
The parcel held 30 mobile phone batteries, 250 grams of slaked lime, 50 grams of tobacco, areca nut and mawa, according to Ada Derana’s Sinhala service. Sahaspura Police are conducting further investigations.
Ada Derana’s English headline said a suspect had been arrested over the attempt, but neither its English report nor its Sinhala report gave any details of an arrest. Both described only the recovery of the parcel and the continuing police inquiry.
What was in the parcel
The contents point to two separate prison black markets. Slaked lime, tobacco and areca nut are the components of mawa, a chewed stimulant preparation that is banned in Sri Lankan prisons.
The batteries are the more consequential item. Mobile phones are the most persistently smuggled contraband in the prison system, and handsets already inside are useless without a power source, making batteries a recurring target of interception.
A pattern at the same facility
Magazine Prison has been at the centre of repeated smuggling attempts and unrest this month. Deadly unrest in the prison’s ‘E’ Ward on August 6, in which one inmate died, was triggered after officers seized a parcel of heroin thrown into the compound from outside.
Two days later, Borella Police arrested two men on Baseline Road as they allegedly tried to throw parcels containing crystal methamphetamine, hashish, tobacco, phones and chargers over the same wall. A 53-year-old prison officer was separately arrested on August 11 with a drug haul police valued at Rs. 2 million, destined for an inmate at the same prison.
The government has moved to tighten security across all 33 prisons following a wave of disturbances since early July, with the President ordering a joint Police, Special Task Force and tri-forces mechanism to secure them.
