Thousands of weapons being seized in Irish prisons

Irish prisons are awash with contraband with 15,000 illegal items — including thousands of weapons — seized in jails in the past two years.

New statistics show that in the past two years there were 3,156 drug seizures in Irish prisons while 2,787 weapons were also seized.

In total 15,067 items were seized by prison officers in 2010 and 2011 — with one-third of all items confiscated from inmates at Mountjoy. The staggering quantity of material, which also includes mobile phones, SIM cards and other items, show the sheer scale of contraband flowing through the nation’s jails.