Wrong call: prison foils bid to smuggle mobile to inmate

AN attempt to smuggle a mobile phone into the country’s maximum security prison was foiled yesterday.

Suspicions were raised yesterday morning when an X-ray scanner at Portlaoise Prison identified a suspicious object inside a parcel.

When officers examined the cover of the package, they noticed that it claimed to be a legal document from a named solicitor’s office and that the intended recipient was Geremiah Cooper.

“It was spelt with a G, not a J,” said a prison source.

“It was clear the way it was packaged, the handwriting and the way it was addressed that it didn’t emanate from a real solicitors.”

When officers opened the package they found a mobile phone concealed in a hallowed-out document.

Prison authorities are satisfied that the intended recipient was Jeremy Cooper, who is serving 14 years for false imprisonment.

Cooper, 37, is from Dunne Street in Dublin’s north inner city, and is a joint leader of a notorious gang. The trial judge in the case described Cooper’s gang as cruel, callous andvicious thugs.

With remission of one quarter off his sentence, he is due out of prison in November.

The month previously, Cooper received 12 years for the false imprisonment of drug dealer Mark Dwyer who was subsequently tortured and killed by father and son Joe and Scott Delaney.

As there is no way of linking Cooper with the package he will not face any internal prison penalties.

Gardaí are expected to interview him and will try and trace who sent the package.

A spokesman for the Prison Officers Association yesterday praised staff for their vigilance in detecting the smuggling attempt.